Tight Budget Puts Squeeze On Post Falls

So few new funding requests survived the forging of Post Falls’ budget that city staff might have submitted last year’s budget with nearly the same results.

The proposed $5.13 million general fund budget is only $90,000 more than last year’s, representing a 1.7 percent increase.

That doesn’t keep up with the cost of living, said Mayor Jim Hammond.

“We’re working with less new dollars this year as we continue to grow,” Hammond said. “It was more of a challenge making ends meet.”

The city administrator and council members just spent more than a month poring over funding requests from each city department.

After all the requests were in, city officials last week cut almost half a million dollars to meet a self-imposed limit on tax increases.

That means no new boat ramp, no new restrooms at Q’Emiln Park, no new furniture for city planners, fewer seasonal employees, and few, if any, new computers.

“We drafted up pretty lean budgets,” said Paul Diener, public works director, who was hoping for another employee to maintain city vehicles.

“So any cut we take is certainly going to have an impact,” he said.

The budget is not yet final. A public hearing is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday in the council chambers.

Under a new state law, taxing districts have a cap on how much they can increase their budgets. The city did not push the limit, passing up $190,000 that it could have taxed homeowners, according to the treasurer, Brentt Ramharter.

Instead, like North Idaho College and some other taxing districts, the city is increasing its budget only by the amount of tax income it expects from new growth.

Homeowners whose property value increased the average amount in Post Falls, 26 percent, should pay the same amount in taxes next year as they did this year, under the proposed budget.

Homeowners whose property did not increase in value by 26 percent will pay less in city taxes, and those whose property values skyrocketed beyond 26 percent will pay more.

As taxes increase, a few other sources of city revenue are shrinking.

For instance, the number of building permits is slowing down. Ramharter expects that department to bring in $45,000 less next year. Police fines also are dropping.

“Police are very busy,” Ramharter said. “They’re so busy, they can’t be writing tickets.”

The need for new streets and the wear and tear on existing ones are not going away.

The council plans to set aside $230,000 for street projects, which could be used as a matching fund for local improvement districts or for a particular street project.

And for the third year in a row, the council plans to squirrel away a chunk of money for new facilities. This year $225,000 is being set aside.

City officials want eventually to build a new City Hall, police station and library. Also on the wish list is a community recreation center, but the city still doesn’t have enough money for a down payment on the first three projects, estimated to cost more than $7 million combined.

, DataTimes