OLYMPIA - November 3, 2009 – Fourteen city employees were told Monday that they will probably lose their jobs in January, the victims of a bad economy requiring about $4 million in budget cuts, City Manager Steve Hall said.
Those were part of about 27 fulltime positions he plans to eliminate next year in a massive reorganization of city government, including many unfilled positions.
“Those were good employees,” he said. “They worked hard, they were loyal.”
Hall unveiled his proposed $97.3 million budget for 2010 at Monday night’s City Council meeting, after a difficult day of informing employees of the job cuts. But the plan is just a proposal. The City Council, after six weeks of deliberation, will make the final decision.
The cost-cutting measures – from layoffs to positions unfilled – will affect just about every facet of city government:
• Funding for social services would be eliminated.
• The school resource officer program would end.
• The victim assistance prosecution program would end.
• Jail beds would be reduced.
• Parks would receive less maintenance.
By department, public works would take the biggest hit with eight positions eliminated. Parks would lose 6.5 positions, police 6.4 positions, general government 2.5 positions and municipal court 2 positions (including a probation officer).
Funding would also be eliminated for Amtrak station maintenance and the Economic Development Council.
Also Monday night, the council declared the need for a 1 percent property tax revenue increase, which is the maximum allowed under state law.
The culprit is the bad economy, which has caused sales tax revenues to drop to negative levels, year-over-year, for the past 18 months except for a small uptick last month. Those are the city’s biggest source of revenue.
“Month after month after month, we’ve been down,” Hall said.
Worse still, every other major revenue source is down. The only areas that are up are alcohol and gambling taxes and a one-time increase of building-related fee revenues from some downtown development projects, such as the Washington State Employees Credit Union building.
The city has gone from a high of about 540 employees in recent years to an expected 487 next year.
“These are very difficult choices for the community over the new few weeks,” Hall said.
Council members raised small concerns but didn’t spend much time on the budget Monday night. Councilwoman Karen Messmer was concerned that enough money be set aside for weather emergencies, such as a winter storm, in light of last December’s heavy snowfall.
Councilman Joe Hyer, chairman of the council’s Finance Committee, spoke highly of the budget, considering the circumstances.
“I actually think this budget is quite impressive for what we have to work with,” he said.
