City’s 2009

budgeting process kicked off on Wednesday night.

POULSBO — The city of Poulsbo jump started its 2009 budgetary process Wednesday night. After a presentation by Finance Director Deb Booher, the council concurred on recommendations and gave go-ahead nods for the eight-month operation, which was initiated by staff in May and will come to a head this December.

This year, Booher said, rising costs and inflation will do their part in making balancing the budget a tricky task. She reported a 5.8 percent raise in the Consumer Price Index — the government’s inflation yardstick — which has potential to greatly impact the city’s costs.

Fire marshall services, which are currently outsourced and done to ensure new buildings fall in line with fire codes, will increase by 90 percent of that raise. That’s up more than twice from last year’s rise. Because of this, Booher said, the city may address ways it can begin to provide those services in-house.

The city’s wage and salary schedules are tied to the CPI, and along with those some benefits may also increase. Some contracts are tied to the CPI as well.

She said the CPI is a signal that all types of costs are on the rise: utilities, phone service and fuel to name a few.

“This is kind of the trend of the times,” Booher said.

But some good news was also reported: The city’s sales tax revenue has yet to be too harshly affected from the troublesome economy, and each department is doing its share to make sure taxpayers’ money is spent wisely. Like many Americans cutting back those extra trips through town, Booher said city staffers are also being frugal.

“They’re very conservative, they’re trying to think before they spend,” she said.

So while economic hardships make the road a rough one, Booher said it can be done.

“It’s tough every year,” she said. “It’s just going to make balancing the budget a little tighter.”

The budget process includes three public hearings, and Booher said though it’s easy to glaze over budgetary text, it’s important for the numbers to be available so the public can understand to what projects and services their money is going.

“It’s their money,” she said. “We’re trying to spend the taxpayers’ funds in the direction they would like us to.”

Council Member Ed Stern said Poulsbo’s budget process is one the council is more involved in than in many other jurisdictions, where city leaders often only see a near-final budget document toward the end of the year.

“It’s our document,” he said. “We’re very fortunate the way we write the budget here in Poulsbo.”