Cheney Budget May Cut At Least One Position Mayor Insists On Keeping Ladder Truck In Service In/Around: Cheney

Cheney’s fire ladder truck will continue to operate and parks will stay green this summer despite city budget problems.

Mayor Amy Jo Sooy has refused to accept proposals to park the ladder truck and let park lawns turn brown to save money in the 1998 city budget.

City Administrator Jim Reinbold said the city could lose one or two employees this year, and maybe more in coming years, as Sooy seeks to cut back city spending.

An amended 1998 budget will be presented to the City Council at its meeting next Tuesday, Reinbold said.

The proposal is expected to call for the elimination of a full-time job in June and the conversion of another full-time job to half-time employment, he said.

Reinbold declined to identify the positions.

Sooy was vacationing in Mexico this week and was unavailable for comment.

Sooy campaigned last fall to find ways to economize at City Hall without sacrificing services.

The city had been facing up to $150,000 in additional budget cuts this year after the state auditor discovered Cheney was collecting too much in electrical utility taxes last year.

The loss of electrical tax is about $300,000 a year. The budget approved last fall called for $150,000 in reductions.

Additional cuts had been considered, including a proposal by the fire chief to park the city’s ladder truck.

Officials at Eastern Washington University expressed concern that the ladder truck was needed for safety on campus, especially for the high-rise dormitories, Reinbold said.

Parks officials said they could have saved money by not watering park lawns and reducing summer temporary employees to mow the grass.

Reinbold said the city ended 1997 with about $100,000 in cash, about $50,000 more than expected. Sales tax collections and building permit fees ran higher than anticipated.

As a result, budget cuts this month won’t be as severe as initially feared.

Also, the council is planning to save $50,000 from the year-end cash reserve fund.

Still, the city is planning to cut travel, suspend this year’s payments to equipment reserves and collar the animal-control program, among other things.

Reinbold said the options will be aired before the full council on Tuesday as part of a multiyear plan to bring the city back to financial health.

“We are looking at every little thing we can,” Reinbold said. “We are looking at making adjustments years out in advance.”

, DataTimes