Spokane, Wash. – City leaders gathered on Thursday, March 14 to talk about the city’s budget deficit and ways to address it.
“We are facing a $50 million shortfall all in considering all our funds including the general fund, and the general fund itself is probably somewhere in the $20 to $30 million range,” Councilmember Michael Cathcart said.
Cathcart says the deficit in total is close to $50 million this year, with the city public safety and general fund expecting a $40 million deficit next year. That could grow to a deficit of nearly $300 million by 2031 if things continue to operate how they currently are.
The key issue for officials is decreasing the deficit without drastically reducing services. Forfeiting cost of living adjustments on salaries, implementing furlough days, and looking at contracts the city has that could be made cheaper were all things that were discussed.
Many possible cuts were presented, but Mayor Lisa Brown also brought forth an option to increase funds for various services.
“I believe we will be bringing forward a public safety levy as well, and that would be something that the council would vote on and then pass onto the voters in the fall,” Brown said.
A public safety levy would provide money to the police and fire departments, which currently make up 60% of the annual expenses for the city.
Another option that was proposed was not filling vacant job openings when they become available. The city would instead restructure the workload of that job to other employees. However, Cathcart believes full cuts may be necessary to tackle this large of a deficit.
“It really can’t be just council saying this, but you have to look at cuts, you have to look at certain places where it’s, it’s a low priority, it’s not a priority for our constituents, and you have to make some cuts and make some hard choices there,” Cathcart said.
The Mayor says service level cuts should be a last resort, and that citizens don’t want a reduction in service.
“I don’t think service level cuts are where people want us to go, in fact, I have heard, more street repair, more snow plows, and more opportunities for us to hire and train police and fire, so nevertheless, we will cost out what it will be if we were actually cutting in those areas, and give those options to the city councils, so they have the full menu of things that they could do,” Brown said.
The council hopes to solve this problem while providing transparency and trust to the community…
“We need to make sure we are showing them right now, that we can do better. That we can be fiscally responsible, that we can really start planning long term, and I think if they see that and if they understand they are going to get some better service, cause that’s the other piece, then I think that they might go along with some sort of an increase,” Cathcart said.
