Valley takes budget to people
Spokane Valley City Manager Dave Mercier is gearing up for a tour.
No, he’s not trading in his ties for rock ‘n’ roll. Mercier and other city staffers will hit the road next month to talk to residents about the city’s 2005 budget.
“Spokane Valley is receiving far less revenue on a per capita basis than would otherwise be expected,” Mercier said at the City Council meeting Tuesday.
The city manager wants to tell citizens how that fact could affect the services they receive, so he’s taking invitations from the Lions Club, Kiwanians and any other community groups during the next several weeks.
The city is working to write a balanced 2005 budget. The staff is proposing to increase spending in all departments by 1 percent next year. But even that tiny boost would put Spokane Valley $512,000 in the hole.
So the city is looking for ways to trim.
The law-enforcement contract stuck out like an ape at a tea party during Tuesday’s meeting. The city proposed spending $15.7 million of the city’s $27.3 million general fund on public safety next year, but Spokane Valley Police Chief Cal Walker was directed to cut $475,000 of that this week.
“Any time you reduce a budget by that much in public safety, it will have an automatic impact on the service we provide,” he said.
If the city ends up reducing law enforcement funds, Walker said he would have to cut some positions from his force of about 100. Walker said he thinks he could eliminate some positions that are vacant now, instead of having to let current employees go.
But with fewer people on staff, “you either don’t respond (to some calls) or when you do, you’re in a hurry to get to the next one,” Walker said.
At the upcoming community meetings, which will start in mid-September, the public will have the chance to share ideas for making ends meet. Mercier presented some financial data with the council Tuesday that he will take on the road.
• Expenditures are growing at a rate of 6 percent to 8 percent, while revenues are growing by 1 percent.
• Per person, Spokane Valley receives less sales-tax revenue than Spokane, Richland, Federal Way and many other Washington cities. It also lags behind small cities such as Airway Heights, Millwood, Cheney and Medical Lake.
• Mercier also compared the amount residents pay in property taxes with other household expenses. For example, someone who owns a $150,000 home pays the city $26.27 in property taxes a month. Meanwhile, they might pay $15 for Internet service, $30 for a basic cell phone plan and $30 a month for cable TV.
“They literally pay more to watch ‘COPS’ on television than they do to put 101 police officers on the streets of Spokane Valley,” Mercier said.
Citizen Dick Behm, who attended Tuesday’s meeting, said Wednesday that he liked how the city’s staff is facing the grim reality and looking at alternatives to deal with it.
“It’s like looking at a Mercedes Benz and then realizing you can just buy the Ford,” he said.
When asked if it’d be more appropriate to say the city is coming away with a Pinto, Behm replied, “That’s all right, too.”
Mercier suggested ways to save money, such as applying for grants, incarcerating low-risk criminals at home rather than in jails and using more volunteers to do some civic work.
Cutting staff positions would be a last resort, he said, because the city already employs far fewer people than cities of its size and cities that are significantly smaller. That includes Lakewood, Sammamish and other cities that contract out many services, as Spokane Valley does.
“Our staff is at the threshold level of being able to credibly deliver services,” Mercier said. “We don’t have spare personnel around that we would be able to do without.”
Mercier will suggest detailed department cuts at the council’s Sept. 14 meeting. The staff will then take the show on the road and get feedback from the public. It plans to finalize its 2005 finances by Nov. 9.