Shoreline City Council members unanimously adopted the 2009 budget on Nov. 24 after some discussion about the staff travel budget, the future of vacated school grounds and the formation of a historical landmarks commission.
“We’ve been down this road before,” Councilwoman Janet Way said. “I heard many other cities in area and King County and the state are slashing their travel budgets, and putting moratoriums on their travel budgets at this time.”
She suggested an allocation of funds from the $36,500 travel budget be put toward saving Cedarbrook Elementary grounds as a park but agreed to withdraw her motion upon learning that a citizen group working to save Sunset Elementary is seeking grant money and the group working to save Cedarbrook can follow suit.
In 2008, council members were not able to go to several training sessions due to a lack of funding, according to city manager Bob Olander.
“It’s very important that council members receive up to date training, build relationships with officials … you do pick up good ideas and council has made it a priority to participate in regional policy and other committees so I’ve always felt it’s a worthwhile investment,” Olander said.
Council members agreed to discuss the travel budget at a future meeting as well as the possible formation of a Shoreline Historical Landmarks Commission.
The $104 million budget is a one percent increase over the 2008 budget, according to finance director Debbie Tarry.
Property Tax Levy passes
Council members unanimously approved the 2009 property tax levy during the Nov. 24 meeting.
The $7.5 million estimate for 2009 is an eight cent drop from the 2008 rate, according to Tarry and will result in approximately $4 annually for an average homeowner. The one percent hike is approved by state law.
“We’re raising the property tax by one percent … that doesn’t begin to cover the inflationary cost of running the city so in my mind there’s no choice than to vote for at least the one percent,” councilman Ron Hansen said.
The city will also collect an excess levy of $1.7 million in 2009 in order to pay back bond money received in Dec. 2006 following voters’ approval of an $18.5 million bond levy for parks in May 2006. Residents can expect to pay 21 cents per $1,000 of assessed value on their property, Tarry said. Next year will be the third in a 15-year levy.
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