The Lake Forest Park City Council approved the city’s 2006 budget at its Dec. 8 meeting, but not before it was tweaked a bit.
“There were not very many major changes, just minor changes and provisos,” said Council member Alan Kiest, who was a member of the budget committee that recommended changes to the mayor’s proposed budget.
Most changes to the proposed $21.7 million budget were under $20,000, Kiest said, which he considers minor in nature. The council’s budget committee, composed of Kiest, Dwight Thompson and Carolyn Armanini, met three times to discuss changes to the proposed budget.
“We tried to add value,” Kiest said about the budget committee. “This was not a filtering mechanism.”
Mayor Dave Hutchinson said some changes to the proposed budget include provisos for funding for the arts council and Third Place Commons. The provisos require city funding for the programs to be matched by 40 percent from other funding sources. Funding also was slightly altered; arts council funding was increased by $150 for a total of $15,150 and Third Place Commons funding was reduced by $9,900 to a total of $10,100.
“The purpose is to demonstrate community support for the programs,” Hutchinson said. “That is the concept for matching part of the money.”
The argument for reducing funding for Third Place Commons from the proposed budget, Hutchinson said, is that some council members see the program as more of an arts-type council rather than a community center.
“There was a lot of discussion around that,” Hutchinson said. “My hope is that in the future they will see it as a community center.”
How the mayor can spend the mayor’s reserve of $12,000, also was altered during budget amendments, Hutchinson said. The mayor’s reserve is typically used to purchase items the city needs, he said. Now any expenditure must be approved by the majority of the council if more than $1,000 is spent. The reserve also may not be used to fund programs already in the budget.
“They boxed me in a little on that, it took about an hour of discussion,” Hutchinson said.
Funding for a tree study was also added to the budget for $10,000, Hutchinson said. The city’s tree ordinance will be reviewed per a recommendation by the Environmental Quality Commission.
Evaluating tree regulations is necessary, Kiest said, as city staff discovered they do not have the right structures in place to protect trees in the city.
“There have been instances where some people have done stuff, some legal and illegal,” Kiest said. “We need to revisit the regulations on trees.”
Other budget funding that was retained from the proposed budget includes money earmarked for Towne Centre redevelopment, transportation and emergency preparedness.
For Towne Centre redevelopment work, $30,000 is included in the planning department budget for consultants to provide technical and financial analysis in negotiating a development agreement. For transportation improvements, $50,000 is included for planning and design work for review of safety improvements to the NE 178th corridor, between 40th Avenue NE and 33rd Avenue NE.
An allotment of $25,000 would be used to assess options to improve the safety of vehicle and pedestrian access to Towne Centre from the Sheridan Heights and Hamlin Road neighborhoods, as the current bridge for vehicles is unsafe and in need of replacement.
The budget also includes $50,000 to study the potential for the city to get involved in the water service business. The proposed budget includes $170,000 to move forward with implementation of the park master plan for the Grace Cole memorial nature park improvements to include design, trails, plantings, a boardwalk, signs, fencing, a parking lot and other improvements.
For emergency preparedness, $25,000 in the police department budget would fund an “Are You Ready?” program for residents to ensure self-sufficiency for a minimum of three days in the event of a natural disaster. Of the $25,000 total, $20,000 is designated for the city to become part of Emergency Services Coordinating Agency.
Hutchinson said ESCA funding discussion will be postponed until this coming year, although $20,000 was included in the budget. Last year, emergency preparedness was done in-house, Hutchinson said, and now the argument is that they won’t be able to do that any longer.
“The council budget left it as an open-ended discussion,” Hutchinson said. “They left money in to further refine how to develop programs.”
The ESCA funding is a proviso, Kiest said, which will hold money in the budget until the council has accepted a management plan for emergency operations with the administration. This is the correct approach to the issue, he said.
“The is something we’ve got to give attention to one way or another,” Kiest said.
Funding for city hall debt will be paid for a little differently than in the mayor’s proposed budget, said city finance director John Hawley. Hutchinson proposed new policies to change how the city handles reserves and pays for city hall debt.
Instead of having $200,000 come from the capital fund and $100,000 from the general fund, the $300,000 city hall debt will be divided in half between the capital and general funds; each fund will pay $150,000. This will provide more money in the capital fund, Hawley said.
An allotment of $5,000 also was designated in the budget to cover recreation programs that Lake Forest Park residents utilize in other cities. The entire costs of programs will not be paid for, but rather the difference in user fees between residents and nonresidents. Lake Forest Park residents will therefore be charged the same as Shoreline residents for programs in that city.
“Some citizens go to Shoreline recreation programs and have to pay a higher rate,” Hawley said. “Our residents pay 10 percent more.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
