Mayor Releases Preliminary Budget

Brian Coddington, Communications Director, 509.625.6740

Tuesday, October 3, 2023 at 10:57 a.m.

Mayor Nadine Woodward released a balanced preliminary budget on Monday that continues critical City services and prioritizes top neighborhood concerns.

Investments in public safety and streets account for 60 percent of the preliminary general fund budget. About 83 percent of the preliminary budget covers personnel costs for the roughly 2,400 City employees who deliver key public services including police and fire response. Homelessness, the other top community priority, is largely funded outside of the general fund through state and federal grants and other funding sources.

“Public safety, homelessness, and streets are consistently the areas neighborhoods raise as the most important to them,” Woodward said. “We have also intentionally invested in the employees who deliver critical City services.”

The Administration and City Council have worked to close a $20 million deficit between the projected revenues and expenses. The main focus areas have been capturing greater organizational efficiencies to allow for structural gains into future years, right-sizing revenues to align to current needs while accounting for economic pressures, and bridging large gaps to meet immediate needs while reducing future operating costs.

Work over the past few months first addressed organizational efficiencies and adjusted outdated fee schedules to cover costs that have grown over several years. Some fees have been unchanged for more than a decade.

Highlights of the preliminary budget include:

  • Right-sizing the fire relief pool by $2.3 million while still maintaining needed staffing based on recent modeling by a fire staffing consultant
  • Reducing department-level expenses by nearly $6 million
  • Implementing a full cost-recovery plan over the next 3 years to address the rising costs of services estimated at $600,000
  • Increasing fees to more closely align with current costs and reduce the general fund subsidy by more than $1 million
  • Maintaining the 1 percent Council-authorized property tax at $600,000
  • Consolidating and restructuring an internal loan for public safety debt at a savings of $3.4 million
  • Reducing the cost of internal services like accounting and information technology by using $2.1 million in built-up savings in these areas
  • Directing a portion of traffic calming funds generated through traffic cameras to pay for $2 million in police services
  • Temporarily increasing by 1 percent the City tax on its own utilities to increase revenue by $2.4 million

The budget process began in the spring with community engagement to reaffirm priorities and includes collaboration with the City Council. Woodward and the City Council hosted workshops at library branches in each of the three districts and conducted an online survey.

The Administration and Council have been meeting regularly this summer to discuss potential strategies and approaches. The meetings will continue this month and Woodward will present a final budget proposal on November 2.

The City Council will hold its budget hearings in November and has indicated it intends to adopt a final 2024 budget by November 27.