In brief: City pledges to keep labor costs in check

Spokane leaders made a pledge Monday to not approve labor contracts that increase costs to the city more than 4 percent annually.

The pledge came in the unanimous approval of a list of rules called “Principles for Labor Negotiations.”

The rules aren’t binding, and even if they were, the pledge states that contracts with higher costs can be approved if officials “agree that a greater good exists” to accept higher pay rises.

The city’s finance department has said that revenues to the city through taxes and fees increase by about 4 percent a year. Although those increases haven’t happened in the last couple of years, city officials say that in a normal year, the city can absorb 4 percent boosts in employee pay and benefits.

Spokane is facing a $12 million budget shortfall next year and is asking unions to make concessions to prevent layoffs.

Reward offered for CdA bank robber

Crime Stoppers is offering a reward for tips that identify a masked gunman who robbed the Wells Fargo at 114 E. Appleway in Coeur d’Alene on Friday, then escaped on a bicycle.

Surveillance photos show a man wearing a black mask, black bike helmet, denim shorts, long-sleeve button-down shirt and white shoes with red squiggly lines.

He appeared to be in his late 20s or early 30s and left with an undisclosed amount of cash in a white cloth grocery bag with an American flag and the phrase “Freedom is not free” on it.

He was last seen riding a gray, three-speed bicycle south on Government Way.

Anyone with information about the robbery or the robber is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (208) 667-2111 or toll free at (888) 667-2111. Tipsters do not have to give a name to collect a reward but should leave a code name or number.

Investigators do not believe the robbery is related to at least six bank robberies in Spokane since December that have been attributed to a man who typically escapes on a bike.

To view surveillance photos of the robberies, visit www.spokesman.com/ blogs/sirens.

Spokane County quickly sold $82.7 million worth of general obligation bonds last week at an interest rate last seen decades ago.

County officials said they were told by a Seattle investment banker that the 3.1 percent rate was the lowest for such a bond sale since the 1960s.

The sale was bolstered by the decision of Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s to maintain the county’s AA bond rating.

The 20-year bonds didn’t require voter approval. They are to be repaid from available revenue.

Proceeds will provide $65 million for continued construction of a new sewage treatment plant, $7.1 million to reimburse the general fund for expenditures on the Spokane County Raceway, and a $10.6 million loan to the new Health Sciences and Services Authority.

The Health Sciences authority hopes to establish a medical research center in Spokane.

SEATTLE – A Seattle police officer fatally shot a man armed with a knife Monday, a department spokeswoman said.

The officer spotted a man holding a knife apparently whittling a piece of wood Monday afternoon at Boren Avenue and Howell Street, said spokeswoman Renee Witt. When the officer pulled his patrol car over, the man stood up from his seat on a wall and approached. Witt said the man ignored several orders to stop and kept approaching the officer. The officer opened fire.

The Seattle Times said the names of the officer and the dead man were not immediately released.