Council approves budget cuts

Spokane City Council members Monday unanimously approved a series of midyear budget cuts that will reduce funding for arts, neighborhood planning, school resource police officers and other programs.

Supporters of the arts department and neighborhood planning argued against the cuts.

In all, 28 positions would be eliminated from the city’s general fund services. Ten of those positions were already vacant, leaving 18 employees facing layoffs as of today.

The cuts will save about $2.5 million and allow the city to end the year with a small $1.2 million ending cash balance out of a $121 million general fund. Cuts will include reductions in allocations for parks and street maintenance.

One full-time position and one half-time position are being eliminated from the arts department, leaving only Karen Mobley, the department director, on the staff.

Six positions in the planning department are being eliminated, with four of those staffers being reassigned to new duties, including jobs in a new economic development department.

Other cuts involve the transfer of six school resource police officers to vacancies in the patrol division; elimination of an office assistance center and its five staffers; closing a child care program at East Central Community Center and its four positions; and reducing jobs in records, finance, fire operations, risk management and the police false alarm program.

Darrell Sullens, who operated an art supply shop in Spokane for 20 years, said the cuts in arts will be devastating for the arts community in Spokane. He said the arts have a $19 million direct benefit to the Spokane economy, so the city’s investment in arts is important for helping that part of the economy perform well.

“Fundamentally, this gets down to a quality-of-life issue,” said Roger Ralston, a sculptor and art teacher.

Brooke Plastino, chairman of the Hillyard Neighborhood Council, said cuts in neighborhood planning send the wrong message to neighborhoods that their work is of little consequence. Eleven city neighborhoods in the past year have started the process of creating detailed guides for future growth in their areas, including the establishment of mixed-use commercial centers.

Steve Signer, who is involved in planning for the Logan Neighborhood, said, “It’s going to be very difficult to get neighborhood planning back on track if we cut it now.”

Logan is working on a plan to establish a small commercial center at Mission and Hamilton, historic preservation guidelines and a university district.

City officials said the planning work would not be abandoned, but would continue at a reduced pace.

Councilman Bob Apple sought to restore funding for the arts department by transferring unused money in the City Council budget, but his motion died for lack of a second.

Councilman Al French proposed the same approach to restore planning positions, but his motion also died for lack of a second.

Councilwoman Mary Verner said wage increases are one of the biggest problems in the city budget.

The city this year has approved several wage packages with retroactive salary payments and is negotiating other salary contracts, including one with firefighters.

“We don’t have the money to continue to function the way we have in the past,” said Deputy Mayor Jack Lynch. Additional cuts are anticipated for 2005.