Monroe may end pledged payments to YMCA

MONROE — Twice a week Carolyn Davisson gets her heart pumping at a free water aerobics class at the Monroe YMCA.

Davisson, a retired elementary school teacher, said the class helps her stay healthy on a fixed income.

The free access she and all Monroe residents enjoy may end if the city reneges on a $1.9 million agreement with the YMCA, which opened in 2007 in a $12.6 million building on Fryelands Boulevard.

A bleak budget has forced the City Council to consider backing out of the contract. It calls for the city to pay about $132,000 annually for 15 years in exchange for free access for residents to some of the YMCA’s programs, including the water aerobics class Davisson attends.

For years, the city needed a community center and a pool. When the YMCA of Snohomish County approached the city and asked for help paying for the Monroe branch, it seemed natural to work together, said Sally King, the marketing coordinator for the Monroe YMCA.

Now she’s concerned about how the YMCA is going to pay for its new multimillion-dollar building.

“We’re going to have to find the money somewhere,” she said.

The city is worried about how it’s going to pay its bills, and the cost of the YMCA program is too high for so few users, Mayor Donnetta Walser said. Only about 1.5 percent of Monroe residents have taken advantage of the YMCA’s free programs. That’s an average of 231 people a month.

The contract with the YMCA allows the city to back out of the agreement if it can’t afford to pay, Walser said.

“I can’t think of any time in the history of Monroe when we’ve had better financial reasons,” she said.

If the city backs out of the contract, the YMCA would have to eliminate programs offered free to the community, including the popular Strong Kids program, which allows children at risk for obesity and their families to exercise and receive education on nutrition, King said. The program, which requires a doctor’s recommendation, has a waiting list.

A maelstrom of economic problems has slammed the city’s budget, city manager Jim Southworth said.

City costs are up, sales tax revenue has flattened and a real estate crunch caused building permit revenue to drop by tens of thousands of dollars, he said.

The proposed budget for 2009 is $1.3 million less than the 2008 funding plan.

Southworth is worried the city won’t have enough money coming in to operate month-to-month in 2009.

The city came up with part of the money for the YMCA by selling its old library building. The sale only brought in enough money to cover this year’s YMCA payments, 2009’s payments and part of 2010, Walser said.

The City Council will consider moving that money into a fund that can be drawn upon during the rough patch, and keep the city with enough cash on hand to pay the bills.

“We try to maintain $600,000 in the checkbooks so the checks don’t bounce,” Southworth said.

The YMCA is an asset to the community, but the city can’t afford to subsidize it now, Walser said.

She wanted to bring the issue to the City Council’s attention as they grapple with a budget already trimmed to the bone.

“We have looked at all our expenses,” she said. “We have cut every single department and laid off people.”

The Monroe YMCA has a total of 11,000 fee-paying members.

Walser recommends the council consider putting the issue on the ballot as a levy increase so voters can decide. The council could also decide to suspend the payment for 2009 and resume the contract the following year.

Meanwhile, if the City Council does decide to stop paying, Davisson probably would drop the water aerobic classes rather than pay for a full membership. The $54-a-month membership is too much for two classes a week, she said.

But that’s not what bothers her the most.

“The city made a promise,” Davisson said. “The building and pool were built on their funding, and it’s like not paying your debts. That bothers me.”

Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com.

Council meeting

The Monroe City Council is scheduled to discuss the proposed 2009 budget at a public meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 806 W. Main St.

Public testimony is scheduled.

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