POULSBO — After enduring a spending freeze and deeply trimming the 2003 budget, the city got a better idea of its financial standing last week with the announcement of 2002 carryover money.
But the budget isn’t out of the woods just yet.
In November, city departments were asked to identify cuts to about 4.8 percent of their 2003 budgets because Poulsbo’s expenditures had been outrunning its revenues for some time. These cuts followed an earlier spending freeze on non-essential items that was instituted by Mayor Donna Jean Bruce.
Some departments, like the Poulsbo Police Department, had a portion of their cuts reimbursed to ensure all necessary functions were met. Nonetheless, Finance Director Donna Bjorkman said the cuts had a large impact on the already fiscally conservative budgets.
“Departments have been restricted to their prior year’s budgets since 1995 so taking the cut really cut into the meat of most budgets,” Bjorkman commented.
But the light at the end of the tunnel seemed to be the city’s carryover numbers, which were announced Feb. 5. In November, the city had estimated that it could realistically have $600,000 from the 2002 budget carryover into the 2003 budget, and as much as $200,000 more than that. Poulsbo City Council members indicated that they supported restoring as many of the November cuts as possible if the carryover numbers came in higher than expected.
The carryover numbers came in at $759,696. The mayor and department heads have recommended that nearly $38,000 of that money be taken off the top for:
• $220 to cover increases in the city’s contribution to the Kitsap County Board of Health.
• $11,136 for cable TV franchise renewal contract with River Oaks Communications.
• $3,994 in Poulsbo Police Department grant money for vests and uniforms that went unspent during the spending freeze.
• $4,860 in Planning Department grant funds that were held over.
• $750 to purchase tables for the library that was carried over.
• $8,129 additional to the general fund and $1,197 additional to Parks and Recreation to cover increases in Labor and Industry rates.
• $1,204 council-authorized expenditure for city wide area network consulting
• $250 to the PPD Citizen Volunteers for cell phone service.
• $6,000 in wages that were paid in 2002, but the expenditure was held over to 2003.
If the city council approves this initial funding, there is nearly $122,000 left that could be redistributed back into department budgets. Bjorkman said the entire amount could restore about 75 percent of the cuts to each department.
“We really would like the money returned to our budgets, ignoring the (Level of Service) and new budget requests,” Bjorkman explained of the consensus feeling of department heads.
As the carryover numbers were first revealed to the Finance and Administration Committee last week, members were not so quick to recommend redistributing all of the money just yet.
Councilman Ed Stern recalled that during budget cut discussions in November, the Finance Administration Committee also recommended Poulsbo undergo a review of the city budget on a department by department basis to better understand where future cuts may be necessary. That study is expected to go forward this year. Stern said he understood departments’ eagerness to have much-needed money restored to their budgets, but thought the city should consider holding 50 percent of the money back for now.
“I would feel a little better with the productivity study under my belt reallocating that money,” Stern commented.
The Finance Administration Committee had no recommendation on the issue at the Feb. 5 meeting and the city council declined to make a decision until after further review. The issue is expected to be discussed at the Feb. 12 meeting.
