SPOKANE-- During her presentation of the proposed 2010 City Budget, Mayor Mary Verner thanked City employees for contributing to the solution to a projected shortfall for 2010 and called the resulting balanced budget proposal a “victory.”
“This budget represents a victory for the health and well-being of our citizens and our community,” said Mayor Verner, who detailed the proposed 2010 Budget during Monday's City Council meeting. “We overcame significant financial challenges and developed a budget that limits additional costs for citizens, while minimizing reductions in City services.”
The proposed 2010 Budget includes a mix of savings, revenues, and some percentage cuts. The budget also includes modest use of reserve funds and conservative revenue estimates to ensure the City’s ability to weather further economic decline in 2010 and to assist with balancing the City’s 2011 budget.
The Mayor noted that the City and Police Guild are in discussions, but for now, the City’s budget includes the elimination of 22 commissioned police officer positions in 2010. Twenty of those positions are currently vacant.
The overall 2009 proposed City budget totals $602.9 million, with the General Fund portion of the budget totaling $161 million. The City’s General Fund pays for police, fire, streets, parks, and libraries, among other things. Revenue from the General Fund comes from sales, property, and utility taxes.
To keep up with community needs during these tough economic times, the Mayor noted that the budget maintains funding for direct Human Services grants from the City’s General Fund at $960,000, just $40,000 less than in 2009. An additional $1.5 million in federal stimulus funding for homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing programs also will serve families in our community.
The City also will continue with work to find efficiencies and cost savings in 2010. The City’s Employee-Led Innovation program is focusing on using employee ideas to improve processes and find savings. Among other things, Police employees brought forward a variety of changes that have resulted in overtime savings of $485,000 in 2009, and Library employees have reduced turnaround time in the bindery area, reducing the turnaround time for repairing and reshelving damaged books to eight weeks instead of 12.
The Mayor filed the proposed 2010 Budget Monday. The proposal now is in the hands of the City Council, who will hold public hearings throughout November. A balanced budget must be adopted by the end of the year to comply with state law.
