MUKILTEO – The breathing in Mukilteo is a little easier this year.
Mayor Don Doran not only is making no cuts to the proposed 2005 budget, he is restoring some of the items that were cut out of this year’s budget.
The new budget also adds some items. One is $110,000 for a lobbyist and impact study aimed at blocking expanded commercial air traffic at Paine Field. Others are $75,000 to study possible annexation areas, and money to begin the design of Mukilteo Lighthouse Park.
“This year’s budget was a nice change from previous years, when the city had to make difficult choices for some cuts,” City Councilwoman Jennifer Gregerson said.
A hearing on the proposed $16.3 million budget will be at 7 p.m. Monday at City Council chambers, 4480 Chennault Beach Road. Adoption of the budget is scheduled for early December.
The city has the Sept. 14 passage of a six-year, $4.6 million EMS levy to thank for the better times. Beginning in 2005, property owners will pay a combined $770,000 a year for six years to hire and train six paramedics. The levy means the city will no longer have to pay $420,000 a year or more to Everett to keep one paramedic on duty in Mukilteo around the clock.
In the wake of declining tax revenues, the city cut items from this year’s budget, including funding for the Lighthouse Festival, one of two semiannual newsletters and the hanging-basket program.
Some vacant city positions were also left open pending passage of the levy, and the city cut funding for its membership in the Regional Drug Task Force, a coalition of police departments that focuses on drug enforcement. The city was allowed to remain on the task force anyway.
The proposed budget restores partial funding for the festival and maintains the staff positions. But not all the items that were cut are being restored. These include a full-time staff member at Rosehill Community Center and $30,000 for the city’s annual cleanup, Doran said.
To keep up with inflation, the budget proposes a 1 percent increase in the city portion of the property tax, the maximum allowed under state law without a vote of the people, and a 3 percent across-the-board increase in development permit fees.
With a new county reassessment schedule and new construction values added to the tax base, the overall tax rates should go down, according to Doran’s written budget message. That means the owner of a $324,000 home will pay just $6.56 more a month, including the EMS levy.
With the EMS levy not expected to fully fund the six paramedics for six years, Doran also proposed moving $700,000 into the EMS account to cover the difference.
The proposed budget can be seen online at www.ci.mukilteo.wa.us.
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
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