By the numbers
It wasn’t that long ago that Spokane Mayor Dennis Hession refused to go along with a City Council plan to hire four police officers and four firefighters, pointing to the Matrix efficiency study, which noted that the city might be able to get by with fewer people in both departments. It was that and his decision to forgo renewal of the two-year property tax that made his July 25 public safety announcement surprising.
How could he go from a position of no new hires and no new taxes to a plan that would add 24 slots to the Police Department and 10 to the Fire Department, along with the personnel needed to staff an ombudsman’s office?
The answer, according to the mayor and top aides who visited the editorial board on Friday, is smarter budgeting, a rosy economy and organizational changes that pick up efficiencies. The explanation is persuasive, but the mayor’s office still has much work to do make it a reality and to educate the public on how it all adds up.
The city is facing a “long-term structural gap” in the budget, which means the growth in expenses outpaces the growth in revenues. Chief Financial Officer Gavin Cooley says that picture wasn’t always clear, because the city for decades had budgeted for costs that didn’t match revenue. Now that the budget is more realistic, the city is better able to identify areas where costs can be cut and to challenge departments to explain not just how many people they need, but why. It was the missing “why” that torpedoed the previous plan to add fire and police slots.
The chief driver of the budget gap is health care expenses for workers. Labor alone accounts for about 60 percent of the city’s budget, and police and fire departments account for more than half of that. Through labor negotiations, the city is getting workers to pick up more health care costs. Redeployment of workers and shift changes are another area of savings at police and fire.
Still, adding positions makes closing a budget gap more difficult. Hession says the money for the 12 police officers and 10 firefighters to be hired in 2008 is already in the budget. Plus, the budget can absorb an additional 12 officers in 2009. The mayor’s office says this hiring is realistic because of an increase in tax revenue and the expected bump from parking meters and building services. Plus, an improved credit rating from bolstered reserves and a centralized accounting system hold promise.
A lot of the details are complicated and – let’s face it – a bit boring. But it’s often the case that sound financial stewardship is the key to a city’s success, while not generating many headlines. The challenge for the mayor’s office is to continue to tell this story and to make sure the public has ready access to any information that can provide clarity.
That way the next big announcement on spending won’t seem so surprising.