Jennifer Budoff 

Jennifer Budoff is the Budget Director for the Council of the District of Columbia, a position she has held since January 2011. In this role, she leads the Council’s oversight of the District’s annual budget process, which includes managing the Council’s review, analysis, markup, and enactment of the $18 billion operating budget and $2 billion capital improvement plan.  Jennifer is responsible for funding vital Council priorities that invest in and support District residents, such as affordable housing, school improvement, and tax reform. In the most recent budget cycle, she helped the Council design, budget, and legislate an EITC-based basic income, the first of its kind in the country. As part of her commitment to demystifying the budget for the public, Jennifer spearheaded the development of a public-facing Office website that includes several dashboards for exploring the budget, as well as a visual budget look-up tool that allows users to break down agency budgets to a granular level.

The Office of the Budget Director also prepares economic and policy impact statements for Councilmembers to provide them with an independent, data- and evidence-based resource for weighing the policy implications and economic costs and benefits of major policy initiatives. Under Jennifer’s leadership, the Office produced an award-winning analysis on minimum income and an analysis on paid family and medical leave that was a key resource for Councilmembers as they developed and passed landmark legislation. 

 Prior to serving as Budget Director, Jennifer leveraged her knowledge of the District and her expertise in economic development finance in various capacities for the government, including serving as the Committee Director for the Council’s Committee on Economic Development. During her tenure in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Jennifer worked on the tax increment financing of neighborhood economic development projects and the convention center hotel.  As a Senior Project Manager at the National Capital Revitalization Corporation, she managed the DC USA project, which earned her the Washington Business Journal’s Deal of the Year 2007 in the financing category.  

 Jennifer lives in the District with her husband, two children, three cats, and two dogs.