City budget cuts identify 142 positions

Spokane Mayor Jim West on Tuesday submitted his proposed 2005 city budget that calls for eliminating as many as 142 jobs in 16 departments, including police and fire.

The exact number of layoffs has yet to be determined since the city is offering an early retirement program, and a handful of positions are already vacant, said Chief Financial Officer Gavin Cooley.

“The effects of this budget are across the board,” Cooley said. “It’s a difficult budget to say the least.”

Budget cuts will trim nearly $12 million from the city’s proposed $118 million general tax fund for police, fire, libraries, parks, streets, smaller specialized departments and internal services.

The City Council has scheduled a study session for 4 p.m. today in the council briefing center on the lower level of City Hall. West said he would address the council and the public at Monday’s regular council legislative session at 6 p.m. in Council Chambers.

In a letter accompanying the budget, West told the council, “Our city will look different on Jan. 1. We will offer fewer services. We will employ fewer people.”

West’s budget includes a handful of increases in taxes and parking tickets. He is asking the City Council to increase the regular property tax levy by $1.5 million to the maximum allowed without a public vote, plus an increase in the admissions tax and a hike in overtime parking tickets from $10 to $15. The property tax increase, if approved by the council, would raise the tax on a $100,000 home by $12 a year.

The mayor said he is seeking to put the city on stronger financial footing by balancing spending with tax revenue. He said he wants to build “prudent reserves” and “maintain strict controls on hiring and spending.”

In past years, the city budget was balanced by counting carryover cash from one year as revenue toward the following year. Cooley said the 2005 budget will be the first one in nearly 30 years not to do that.

The budget cuts were reached through a ranking process in which different city services were evaluated against a series of goals, such as providing public safety, a healthy environment, learning opportunities, human services, streets and a strong economy. Nearly 1,500 citizens have logged on to a city budget calculator posted on the city’s Web site at www.spokanecity.org

The proposed cuts follow the elimination of 28 city positions in September.

The fire department is facing the largest staff reductions. It would lose 63 firefighters and one nonuniformed position.

The police department would lose 17 officers and six nonuniformed positions.

The library system would lose 14.5 positions as it trims the number of days each of the city’s six libraries is open.

Elsewhere in City Hall, the cuts include 12 jobs in purchasing and in-house printing, nine positions in streets, four positions in fleet maintenance and three positions in the legal department. The street department currently has a number of vacancies that won’t be filled. The legal department would lose two of its misdemeanor prosecutors.

Also being cut are at least two positions in management information services, two positions in the public defender’s office, two positions in the equity office, one position in risk management, one position in the mayor’s office, one position in historic preservation, one position in the youth department and one position in engineering services.

The parks and recreation department would lose 1.5 regular positions, plus 75 temporary seasonal workers whose hours are equivalent to 16 full-time positions.