EVERETT — Here’s what it’s going to take to keep next year’s city budget in the black:
•Employees not in a union won’t get a cost-of-living pay bump. Neither will the mayor or the City Council.
Nobody should lose their jobs, but up to a dozen vacant positions will go away — perm
anently.
As employees leave next year, many of those positions will remain unfilled too.
City vehicles won’t get replaced as quickly, and the city again will put off early payments to fire and police pensions. That shouldn’t endanger anyone’s pension since the city is years ahead of sc
hedule.
Some people convicted of crimes could receive punishments other than jail time to help the city lower its jail bill.
Those efforts and a few others should help the city narrow a projected $10 million gap in next year’s budget, Debra Bryant, chief financial officer, told the Everett City Council on Wednesday night.
“Our citizens may wait longer for a service,” she told the council. “It may take longer for a sidewalk to be replaced, but that’s the economic reality.”
Her comments came as city leaders prepare to vote on an amendment to this year’s budget. That change includes taking money saved by department heads this year and putting it toward 2012.
Mayor Ray Stephanson plans to deliver the official budget proposal to the City Council on Nov. 2. It won’t be approved by the council until late this year.
It’s become clear that temporary cutbacks aren’t enough, and the city spending has to shrink to meet flat revenue predictions that might persist for several years, Bryant said in an interview Wednesday.
“We always had in our mind that we’d eventually turn a corner and things would come back to normal,” she said. “We aren’t going to turn a corner anytime soon.”
Earlier this year, the city expected to spend around $121 million in 2012 to provide basic city services. That number is now scaled back to $110 million. To put that in perspective, the city budgeted $5 million more than that to run the government in 2008.
That money pays for basic services such as the library, the police and fire departments, parks and streets.
The projection for the next few years isn’t any cheerier unless the economy turns around, Bryant said. The city must build in yearly increases for employee health care and similar expenses.
“Those are the places we would have to go reduce the deficit in the future,” she said. “When most of your budget is labor, that’s where you have to focus your attention.”
Cutting back has been at the top of the minds of officials at City Hall for some time. They’ve tried to avoid furloughs, layoffs and major service reductions.
City leaders went into overdrive worry mode in August when payroll projections came in higher than they had expected.
The mayor asked all city employees, including those represented by unions, to forgo cost-of-living raises next year. Union leaders ended up saying no — not necessarily because workers wouldn’t consider it. In a letter, they said the idea was presented on short notice and with no room for discussion. Some said they had other ideas that might work instead.
“There are a lot of members who do know about the situation and do want to offer suggestions (to save money),” said Darrell Stuart, president of the Everett Municipal Employees Local 113, part of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
Debra Smith: 425-339-3197; dsmith@heraldnet.com.
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