Mayor Gary Haakenson released Tuesday night his long-awaited 2009-2010 budget proposal.
The budget closes the $5.4 million shortfall that Haakenson announced in August by raising some taxes and keeping current job openings vacant, but does not call for any job cuts.
It would raise utility taxes to 10 percent and cable television taxes to 6 percent, which together would cost the average Edmonds taxpayer $86 a year, according to Haakenson. The budget does not ask for a property tax hike beyond the expected 1 percent.
It could, however, spell the beginning of the end for the Edmonds Fire Department.
Long term, the city’s financial health requires Edmonds to join a regional fire authority instead of running its own fire department, Haakenson said. Such a move would save the city $4 million a year, he said.
Regardless of the fire department’s fate, the city’s budget demands drastic action, Haakenson said.
For years, as labor costs have risen, the city’s margin for error has shrunk, he said.
Now, rising costs and the city’s inability to raise taxes at the same pace — thanks to Tim Eyman’s Initiative 747, passed in 1999 — have put Edmonds in a position where it must act, Haakenson said.
“We simply can’t continue to offer the services that we have historically offered to our citizens without new revenues,” he said in his budget address. “Over the past seven or eight years we have been creative, and lucky, with our revenue streams, allowing us to reach 2008 in sound financial shape.
“But now, the tough calls have to be made,” Haakenson said.
The cost of salaries and benefits for city employees are expected to rise 37.9 percent from 2002 to the end of 2008. During that time, the city has only added one full-time employee, said Debi Humann, the city’s human resources director.
In the same time frame, property tax collections have only grown 26.6 percent.
While Haakenson framed the budget discussion as a choice between increased revenues and decreased services, some councilmembers called for the city to expand its services.
Councilmember Dave Orvis, the council’s representative to the Snohomish County Health District, said Edmonds should spend $150,000 fully funding public health.
“The bottom line is, I’m not interested in reducing public safety in any way, and that includes public health,” Orvis said Sept. 29. “I would prefer to raise revenues than to cut in those areas.”
Whatever the final solutions, the budget clearly deserves a lot of attention, Council President Michael Plunkett said Sept. 29.
“We have to be open to looking at everything,” he said. “I am staying open, loose and flexible.”
Others agreed.
The council’s first public hearing on the budget will be Tuesday, Oct. 21. Its first public workshop will be Tuesday, Oct. 7. Officials have until later this year to approve it.
“I genuinely appreciate time to review this in these belt-tightening times,” said Councilmember Steve Bernheim.
A fire authority?
Proponents like fire chief Tom Tomberg believe a fire authority would save on administration and equipment expenses, but critics suggest a regional authority would only shift fire costs off city books — and directly onto Edmonds taxpayers.
In August, Councilmember Ron Wambolt dismissed the fire authority proposal as “a shell game.” Wambolt is skeptical of the proposal, but willing to listen, he said Sept. 26.
Reporter Chris Fyall: 425-673-6525 or cfyall@heraldnet.com
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