City close to passing budget

Published 7:38 am Monday, February 25, 2008

EDMONDS – They haven’t figured out exactly how to pay for it yet, but it appears a fire training officer could be added to the 2004 city of Edmonds budget as the fire chief has requested.

Council members and citizens who spoke at a meeting on the budget Nov. 18 expressed support for the idea. Chief Tom Tomberg has said that the fire training officer position – the duties for which were covered by an assistant chief until that position was cut for 2003 – is important for safety and liability issues.

Council member Deanna Dawson said she would not support levying unused past taxing capacity to raise property taxes on top of the regular 1 percent allowed by state law. This would mean something else would have to come out of the budget to pay for the training officer and anything else to be added, she said.

“That’s the real hard work we have to do next week,” Dawson said.

City Council president Dave Earling said he would like to pass the budget at the Council’s meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 25. Approval of the city’s tax rate for 2004 is also on the preliminary agenda for that meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Public Safety Building, 250 Fifth Ave. N.

The fire training officer is one of several items that have been proposed to be added to Mayor Gary Haakenson’s preliminary $25.7 million budget. Others are $5,000 to restore the city’s membership in the Snohomish County Economic Development Council; $60,000 for the addition of a firefighter position; and $12,000 for the Highway 99 economic development task force. Money for these items could come, respectively, from the 2004 ending fund balance; overtime savings, and the 2003 Council contingency fund, Haakenson said.

Items already proposed for funding in Haakenson’s budget that are up for debate are the mayor’s proposed new economic development director position and a Highway 99 zoning study.

The $102,000 for the economic development director position, as proposed by Haakenson, would be covered by savings from the elimination of funding for the Edmonds Alliance for Economic Development and elimination of the soon-to-be-vacant human resource director job. “The net effect is a zero increase in budgeted positions,” the mayor has said.

The elimination of the human resources director position – currently manned by Brent Hunter who is planning to retire, according to Haakenson – led resident Roger Hertrich to raise the question of the function of that position.

The position has been part of the city for years, Hertrich pointed out, “and all of a sudden we don’t need him?”

Council member Jeff Wilson agreed that “I think we at least need to have that discussion.” But Wilson spoke strongly in favor of adding the economic development director position.

“I think it’s critical to this city,” he said. He said that in his work he frequently talks with city officials from California who say that economic development is what has kept their cities afloat since property taxes were eliminated in 1978.

“If we don’t generate new revenue we’re going to be looking at more cuts this year and more cuts down the road,” Wilson said. “We need to start developing that strategy now.”

Council member Lora Petso disagreed on the new position, pointing out that city officials and Highway 99 businesspeople and property owners have recently demonstrated a new commitment to economic development.

“It’s not going to go away,” she said.

Petso said if it comes down to a choice, she’d vote to add the fire training officer rather than the economic development director, whose salaries would be roughly equal.

“I’m much more interested in a fire training officer than an economic development coordinator,” she said.