State must help city fiscal woes
Spokane is laying off firefighters, police officers and other workers. It is cutting back library hours and raising parks and recreation fees. The city is facing a serious budget crisis that is affecting its ability to deliver basic services.
So are Yakima and Walla Walla. And Seattle and Tacoma. And Bremerton and Bellingham. And Mansfield and Bridgeport. And, well, just about any city or town in the state.
About 90 percent of the municipalities surveyed by the Association of Washington Cities said they have serious financial problems; 82 percent say it will get worse; 73 percent say their budgets are in worse shape than they were five years ago.
“The fact is, most cities across Washington state have been caught in the perfect financial storm,” said Mary Place, a Yakima councilwoman and president of the Association of Washington Cities, in an Associated Press article.
The association’s annual State of the Cities Report shows a troubling trend. Municipalities are being handcuffed by citizen initiatives and legislation at a time when people are increasingly residing in incorporated areas. Ten years ago, the state’s cities served 52 percent of the population; now, it’s up to 61 percent.
During that period, two of the main revenue sources for cities have been pinched. The state’s motor vehicle excise tax was reduced to a flat $30 per year and Initiative 747 limited property tax increases. The association estimates that cities lost $100 million when the MVET was repealed and that I-747 will amount to a $136 million cut to cities by 2007.
After the repeal of the MVET, the state produced backfill money for cities, but the state has had to cut off that funding because of its own budget problems. Now cities are draining their reserves and cutting basic services to balance budgets. Exacerbating the problem are employee health-care costs that are rising 15 percent annually with no end in sight.
The small town of Mansfield, northeast of Wenatchee, is down to two full-time employees: a clerk-treasurer and superintendent whose duties include cleaning bathrooms. Council members have stopped taking a salary. In nearby Bridgeport, the municipal court was closed, the pool won’t be reopened, a firetruck was sold off and the sheriff’s contract was slashed. Seattle has cut its budget by $125 million over two years.
Spokane isn’t alone among cities who cannot keep up with street maintenance. The state’s funding formula for the gas tax gives cities a fixed amount that doesn’t keep pace with inflation and population gains. The per capita value of the gas tax for cities has dropped 40 percent since 1991. A 1999 study commissioned by the Legislature found that cities need $2.39 billion for improvements to sewer and water systems.
As essential services are cut back, people across the state have directed their ire at local governments. But they’re missing the bigger picture. The funding leaks sprung by initiatives such as I-695 and I-747 are widespread, and the state hasn’t responded with funding tools that could plug the holes.
Olympia holds the keys to the cities.