By Leslie Moriarty
Herald Writer
SULTAN — Unexpected shortages in the city’s general fund may result in the police department being cut in half, with as many as six of the 12 officers out of work by Oct. 1.
"The city is in serious financial trouble," police chief Fred Walser said Wednesday. "That is translating into a reduction of force for us."
Sultan Mayor C.H. Rowe called the situation "belt-tightening."
"We’re like most small cities," he said. "We’re feeling the hits of I-695. When that happened, we lost our sales tax equalization money, and now we’re having to address that."
He put the possible cuts at $106,000 and said all city departments are looking for ways to cut spending. But he said the police department is a prime possibility because other departments have already taken cuts.
Walser said he first became aware of the need to make cuts several weeks ago.
"We’re being asked to cut about 6 percent of the budget," Walser said. "In the police department, that equates to three officers."
But, he said, because three positions are funded through a federal grant program with matching funds, and according to the union contract he would have to cut those three positions first, that would put him at a neutral budget position.
"We would need to cut three more police officers to create the savings that the city tells me we need," he said.
The average salary for an officer in Sultan is $38,000 plus benefits.
Walser has set meetings to discuss the cuts with representatives of the Teamsters Union, which represents the officers.
The city council’s finance committee has set a meeting for Monday to discuss the overall impact of the budget cuts. Bob Ostrom, committee member, said the budget problems are a direct result of the city’s loss of sales tax equalization money.
He said former city administrator Roy Bysegger told the council when it set the city’s 2001 budget that the police department budget was higher than it should be, considering the $168,000 in sales tax equalization loss.
Rowe agreed, saying the cuts should have been made when the 2001 budget was set.
"If we’d made these cuts a year ago, we wouldn’t be where we are now," he said. "But back then, Fred (Walser) just put his foot down."
Both Rowe and Ostrom said the city’s financial situation has been made worse because the normal flow of city revenue has been slow.
"With the overall slowdown in the economy, building is off," Ostrom said. "We’ve not had the income from permit fees that we thought we would. Our expenditures have exceeded our revenues."
And even with the loss of several positions including city administrator, assistant to the city administrator, city planner and assistant city planner, there still is a need to make cuts, he said.
But Walser said his department can’t take serious cuts. He said calls for service have gone up significantly. This year to date, the department has had 497 calls, an average of about 50 calls a day.
Walser said he has tried to keep costs down. The department, which just moved into the old city library, doesn’t even have file cabinets, he said.
You can call Herald Writer Leslie Moriarty at 425-339-3436
or send e-mail to moriarty@heraldnet.com.
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