The Port Orchard City Council approved a $24.8 million budget on Tuesday night, projecting enough to fund essential programs while not even considering second-tier requests.

“We aren’t laying anyone off, and we aren’t cutting any services,” said Port Orchard Mayor Lary Coppola. “I think it is a good budget.”

The $24.8 million budget is down from the $25 million total from 2008. City Treasurer said the $218,328 difference was due to the downturn in the economy.

The Port Orchard Police Department’s expectations were cut by one third, as the council funded the purchase of two new cruisers instead of three.

With projected cost of $2,709,394, the police department represents the largest single line item in this year’s budget.

“I wouldn’t say this was a particularly difficult budget to complete,” said City Treasurer Kris Tompkins. “But everyone had to tighten their belts. We had to cut travel and training. And there is always a supplemental list, of things that we try to fund when everything we need is paid for. This year, we didn’t even look at that list.”

The list of supplemental requests, which adds up to $4 million, has a variety of requests.

It includes $40,000 for a full-time lobbyist, $40,000 for improving workstation ergonomics and $3,000 for a video-monitoring system in city hall.

The budget item that received the most attention this year was the temporary allocation of $20,000 of lodging tax funds to supplement the mayor’s salary.

The supplemental requests had requested far more for this purpose, $90,372 in salary and $33,571 in benefits.

Allocations that did survive were $50,000 for study of the new parking facility, $30,000 for sidewalk replacement and $20,000 for a park “big toy.”

Also left intact was a temporary part time position in the Planning Department.

For specific information about the budget go to www.cityofportorchard.us.