Mayor Denis Law will present a two-year budget to the City Council Monday, seeing some positives but still facing strong recessionary headwinds on the city’s finances.
The city has reduced its budget in the last two years by millions of dollars because of nosediving sales-tax revenues and falling property taxes. A moribund construction sector has cut into the Real Estate Excise Tax, which is used for capital projects.
Last year, the city layed off 36 employees, but Law said only minimal staff cuts are possible in the next budget, if any are made at all.
Law is positive about how the 2010 budget will fare.
“I think we will end the year OK,” he said in an interview, in part because city departments have underspent their budgets.
A positive is in the city’s Auto Row centered on Grady Way, where dealers are indicating their sales slump has “bottomed out,” he said.
Still, he said, “I am firmly convinced we will have a slow recovery.” Sales-tax revenues, he said, likely will not return to previous levels.
Law gave an overview of the budget in the interview, saving the details for his traditional budget presentation, this year before the council’s Committee of the Whole on Monday, rather than at the council meeting that follows.
This is the first time a Renton mayor will propose a two-year budget, this one for 2011 and 2012. The change allows the city to plan further into the future – and it saves staff time and resources. The mayor will propose a budget amendment midway through the biennium.
This year is also the first time a mayor has convened a citizens advisory committee to help city leaders set priorities for the budget and otherwise offer input.
The 14-member Community Budget Advisory Group issued its recommendations this week. The weeks-long review of the city budget was an exercise in what Law called “city government 101.”
But the committee members had the basics of government in mind in their recommendations, emphasizing support for mandatory public services such as public safety that directly serve the public.
The committee also emphasized government efficiency, something that city leaders stress, too. Those efficiencies forced by the economic downtown should remain even after the recovery, the committee suggests.
“Keep asking why you do things the way you do and evaluate whether the services you provide are important to the community,” said committee member Colin Walker in a press release.
“While it’s easy to say cut, cut, cut, in a time of deficit, be strategic in where you trim and innovative in how you deliver services. Think outside the box,” he said.
The committee also suggested the city look at ways to manage the total cost of and growth of employee pay and benefits. That could include continuing efforts to increase employee contributions to medical insurance and benefits or negotiating with the city’s employees to reduce wages to preserve benefits, according to the committee report.
Budget address
Mayor Denis Law will present his 2011-2012 budget to the City Council Monday during the council’s Committee of the Whole meeting at 5 p.m. in the council chambers, seventh floor, City Hall, 1055 Grady Way S.
Budget priorities
The City of Renton’s 2011-12 budget will focus on six community priorities:
• Emphasize basic priorities, such as enhancing or maintaining public safety response times, parks and recreation, and infrastructure and maintenance.
• Propose budget reductions that reduce administrative costs and overhead.
• Establish performance and deliver measurable results.
• Clear communications that present the budget and the financial issues facing Renton.
• Strategies that recognize employees who find opportunities for efficiencies and savings.
• Specifically achieving cost avoidance or savings in street lighting costs; starting to ask employees to share in medical premium costs; limiting travel and education/training costs; external review of our information technology functions; and streamlining the use of vehicles in the city’s fleet.
Source: City of Renton
