Liberty Lake council looks closely at cost cuts

The Liberty Lake City Council will look at the city’s budget in the coming weeks, hoping to find ways to cut costs.

Councilman David Crump, part of the finance committee along with Odin Langford and Josh Beckett, told the council that the staff and mayor have kept expenditures low, but with the economic downturn, the city won’t be receiving as much revenue. He said the city must keep three months of expenses in reserves – $1.1 million – to maintain the same level of service.

As of June 29, the city has only received 39.21 percent of its expected revenues for 2010.

“(We’ll be) upside-down in months, not years,” he said.

He proposed that the council to talk to city staff to understand the situation before the July 20 and Aug. 3 meetings.

Langford said that one of the problems is deferred maintenance – waiting another year to purchase items to stay within the budget, such as a police vehicle that should have been replaced in 2009.

“The longer we wait, the dollars grow considerably,” Beckett said.

Crump said deferred maintenance and the possibility of expanding services might not be funded if the city’s finances aren’t dealt with now.

Crump added that the finance committee talked a lot about raising the levy to 1 percent, only an extra $16,000 per year.

“That’s not going to make a drop in the bucket of what we’re talking about here,” he said.

Beckett instructed the other members of the council that there should be no “sacred cows.”

“Everything should be fair game,” he said.

Councilwoman Susan Schuler said she wanted to know how the city got to this point.

“I feel a bit blindsided,” she said.

Mayor Wendy Van Orman said the city has received 22 percent less revenue in 2010 than in 2008, partly because property assessments are about 30 percent lower than they have been.

Crump advised the council to come to the next meeting better educated on the budget and have questions ready for the staff.

It was decided that the council will dedicate an hour to the subject July 20, as well as the entire Aug. 3 meeting.