The Everett City Council’s approval this week of the mayor’s budget cuts was an important step that bodes well for the city’s future. It confirmed the recognition by the city’s executive and legislative branches that fiscal realities have changed, and adjustments must be made.
It took political courage for council members Arlan Hatloe, Doug Campbell, Marian Krell, Bob Overstreet and Brenda Stonecipher to stand behind Mayor Ray Stephanson’s plan to bring city spending in line with revenues. The cuts would have gone into effect without the council’s approval, but the mayor sought it in order to show unity in light of a serious problem.
These five council members now will hear the same criticism that to this point had been directed only at the mayor from citizens who would rather see the city use reserves than cut jobs and programs. But the council and mayor both realize that the city’s financial bleeding needs more than the temporary bandage reserves would provide.
City tax revenues are down sharply from the boom of the late ’90s. Business and occupation taxes, which are levied on a company’s gross receipts, are off significantly because of the slump in Boeing sales. Sales tax revenue is flat because of the slow economy, and property tax increases can’t keep up with inflation — Initiative 747 limits them to 1 percent a year.
Meanwhile, expenses have continued to climb. Some, like the health-care costs the city bears for employees, have skyrocketed.
The work the mayor’s office did in combing through every detail of the budget gave council members a much clearer picture of the situation than they had when they approved the 2004 budget last year. And a majority agrees, wisely, that the city’s $24 million in reserves shouldn’t be used to cover ongoing expenses, but should be held for unanticipated expenses, emergencies and one-time investments in the city’s future.
People who are feeling the cuts, like members and parents of the Everett Parks Sharks swim team, are crying foul. But when voter-approved revenue limits combine with a poor economy, subsidies for many programs we’d otherwise support become unaffordable. The mayor, to his credit, has promised to work with the swim team to find a way to keep it going without city money. Parents would do well to accept his offer and work cooperatively.
Making these cuts now has the added benefit of shrinking future budget shortfalls. If voters approve a pending initiative that would cut local property taxes by 25 percent, however, next year’s gap could be in the neighborhood of $12 million — some 13 percent of the city’s general fund.
The current $3.5 million in cuts will seem light in comparison.
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