The City of Kirkland approved the $449.4 million biennium budget Tuesday, which increased in total size 12.83 percent from 2009-2010 despite an overall shortfall.
“This budget addresses between a $5 and $7 million shortfall,” said Kirkland Mayor Joan McBride. “I don’t think we made any easy decisions.”
But it is the overall way the council went about creating the budget that led to conflict prior to the 6-1 vote of approval.
“I want to thank the staff, you did a better job than I thought was possible within the parameters given by council. The issue with the parameters though is that they are very limited,” said Councilmember Bob Sternoff, who was the lone dissenting vote as he was for the 2009-2010 budget. “And they didn’t allow you to take a look at anything but the margins of the base budget … It is the base budget where we have the problem and this isn’t new.”
Sternoff read from an Eastside Journal newspaper article from 1996 to show that the problems facing the city have not been changed or been addressed.
“Is it best to set the level of community service and then set taxes to produce enough income or is it best to set the amount of money the city is willing to spend and then determine which services are vital enough to fit under that cap,” Sternoff read from the article.
“What we end up doing is chewing around the edges,” said Sternoff. “It begs the question do we really know what we are spending our money on.”
The dissenting vote caught some on the council off-guard.
“I am stunned that we don’t have unanimity on this,” said Councilmember Dave Asher.
Despite the shock from council members, some of the newer faces to the process voiced their support for Sternoff’s reasoning, even though they voted for the budget.
“We have an opportunity with the next cycle to be creative and make those kinds of decisions,” said Deputy Mayor Penny Sweet. “And we will do that in the future.”
“I think you have the commitment from your colleagues on that process,” said Councilmember Doreen Marchione.
Property tax increase
The council approved the maximum property tax increase of one percent for 2011 with a 7-0 vote. The increase does not cover the 2012 portion of the biennium budget. The city’s total assessed valuation decreased by 5.34 percent, or just over $603 million.
Budget changes
One of the biggest changes to the budget comes in the general fund, which increases by 30.6 percent to $158.5 million during 2011-2012. But without annexation, the purchase of the public safety building and consolidating several non-operating funds, the general fund would have declined by about 0.7 percent, according to the memorandum for the meeting.
The city will also bring in $375,000 for leasing what will become the new public safety building to My Home Wholesale for 15 months.
The cost for beginning service to the annexation area is listed at $25.7 million.
Another big change had to do with the failure of the initiative to privatize alcohol sales. The city would have lost revenue and staff had assumed passage. The city put the $731,000 back into the general fund for the two-year period.
The city will use fire overtime and the equipment budget set aside in a contingency reserve as bridge funding in the first quarter of 2011. The move will mean no rolling brown-outs during the first three months of the year.
One of the most significant expenditures was $5 million for the BNSF rail line that runs through Kirkland.
Overall, there were more than $14 million in changes from the preliminary budget.
The council has decided to add one-time funding for human services for 2011.
The budget also restores lifeguards for Houghton and Waverly Beaches that were recommended for cuts.
The Kirkland City Council – which previously discussed the idea of a Transportation Benefit District that could have included a car-tab tax for road maintenance – did not include the item in the budget. The council decided earlier this fall to table the issue until mid-2011.
