Granite Falls to vote on budget
Published 9:08 pm Tuesday, December 14, 2010
GRANITE FALLS — If the Granite Falls City Council approves the latest draft of the proposed 2011 budget there will be no money for an executive assistant at City Hall.
The city’s five council members asked staff not to continue to fund the part-time, temporary position that was part of this year’s budget, said Esther Borg, the city’s treasurer. The council instead wants the city to pay for a records clerk at the Granite Falls Police Department. The clerk would work 15 hours a week and receive no benefits, Borg said.
“The main thing was they wanted to be able to get a part-time assistant for the police department,” she said. “The way our union contracts read you have to work 20 hours a week for benefits.”
The council is scheduled to discuss the $9.1 million proposed 2011 budget and possibly vote to approve it during a 7 p.m. meeting today at Granite Falls City Hall.
Separate grants for the construction of a storm water processing station on W. Wallace Street and for street improvements to S. Granite Avenue between Union and Wallace streets are in the budget.
Granite Falls residents could also see storm drainage rates increase from $4 to $9 every month if the change is approved by the council.
“In order to be able to be in compliance with Department of Ecology requirements we had to raise our storm rate, and we were very low compared to other cities,” Borg said. “Generally cities our size gather at least $10 a month.”
The council also is scheduled to vote to approve a 12 percent utility tax on water and sewer at the meeting. The 3 percent increase is part of the proposed budget but is not a tax that Granite Falls residents will see reflected in their utility bills, Borg said.
“That’s a tax that we tax ourselves, that is not the public being taxed,” she said. “It is a legitimate way to get money into the general fund. A lot of cities are doing this now, and other cities are charging much more.”
The utility tax will be taken from revenue the city collects from water and sewer bills and put into the general fund, Borg said. The tax is scheduled to end in December 2011. The council will need to vote on a new ordinance to set a percentage for 2012.
Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491; adaybert@heraldnet.com.
Wednesday meeting
The Granite Falls City Council is scheduled to consider the 2011 budget at a meeting at 7 tonight at the City Hall, 206 S. Granite Ave.
