Budget

The other night the Washington City Council approved the tentative budget for fiscal year 2011-12. This approval establishes the proposed budget, makes it available for public review, and sets the public hearing for the final budget adoption.

I encourage all of our citizens to at least take a look at this budget and see what it takes to provide services within our community. You can review the tentative budget for 2011-12 on our website at washingtoncity.org/finance. Since you may still have some questions about how a municipal budget works, we have also made a short video about this budget and how it is put together. I think this video is very informative and entertaining (as entertaining as a video can be about municipal finance). I hope this little presentation will give you a better idea of what makes up our budget. If, after looking at the tentative budget and viewing the video, you still have questions; we would love to answer those. Please don’t hesitate to contact myself or our Administrative Services Manager, Kimberly Ruesch at 656-6307.

I am proud of the services that we are able to provide to you and for the cost effectiveness of how we do that. Our budget, like your personal budget, has been challenged over the past few years. We have made changes such as: downsizing the organization, freezing wages (this will be our fourth year of doing that), postponing capital investments, and cutting across the board all expenses. By making these changes we believe that we have weathered the most challenging part of the economic downturn.

We are seeing some improvements on the horizon. Sales tax (our largest revenue provider) is improving. Property values have begun to stabilize and we are starting to see more activity in our business community. These are significant revenue indicators for us.

I appreciate the fiscally conservative legislative body that leads and guides our city; for their guidance and direction through this budget process. I also appreciate the hard-working staff that share those same ideals. I believe, this year, that things will continue to look up, not only our community but in the lives of each of the citizens that call Washington home.