City’s Mid-Year Budget Cuts Can’t Stop Ongoing Revenue Declines

Mayor McGinn

The City of Seattle’s general fund is a portrait of neediness. It’s carrying about $4 million in red ink from 2009, and is looking at a $7-million shortfall in 2010, thanks to revenues coming in $2 million under projections and $5 million in “expenditure risks” (more on this later). In addition, 2011′s forecast keeps coming in $56 million short.

This morning, the Mayor’s budget director, Beth Goldberg, briefed the City Council on the steps necessary to balance the budget, with “the bulk coming from police, parks and libraries,” sums up the Seattlepi.com. The cuts total $12.4 million (pdf), and an unspecified amount would carry over into 2011, to address that year’s looming deficit.

Last week, Mayor McGinn was also looking at the Fire Department for cost savings; after this weekend’s fire, which took five lives, cuts are on hold. An investigation into the equipment failure that left the first truck to arrive unable to pump water is ongoing.

Says McGinn: “The tragedy in Fremont this past weekend gave us a concrete example of the importance of protecting our public safety budget; in light of that event, I am not proposing any reductions to the Fire Department, giving us an opportunity to fully review the safety implications of any potential reductions.”

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That still leaves police (a $2.27 million cut), human services ($246,000), and parks ($1.67 million). The police department will have to do without 21 extra officers promised by the Neighborhood Policing Plan, and the city is “cutting” 53 full-time positions (not hiring for 44 vacancies). McGinn notes that the city is still staffing police officers at record levels.

(More peace officers doesn’t necessarily bring more peace and quiet: A man who fired a shot in Belltown last weekend was released after police questioning found he had a permit to carry the weapon. The man claimed he’d fired it to frighten off two other men who’d flashed their guns at him. All in favor of taking advantage of this return to frontier justice and renaming Belltown “Tombstone,” say aye.)

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At the parks, wading pool cuts made up $200,000, with closures at Greenlake, Beacon Hill, Georgetown, Gillman, Highland Park, Northacres, Peppi’s Playground, Powell Barnett, Ravenna, Sandel, and View Ridge, and limited, 3-day-weeks at Bitter Lake, Cal Anderson, Dahl, Delridge, E. C. Hughes, East Queen Anne, Hiawatha, South Park, Soundview, and Wallingford. Maintenance funding was also cut five percent, so expect to see shaggier, more lived-in parks going forward.

The same may be true of the Seattle Public Library, which is “giving back” $1.17 million in funding cuts, thanks to a half-million taken from the library’s collections fund, and cuts in staffing (though library hours would remain at current levels). Hold your nose, because some of those staffing cuts are janitorial.

Last week I brought up the terrible condition of Seattle roads, and asked if the Mayor and City Council might like to focus on that. Turns out, the Mayor already had SDOT on his mind. Besides having requested that SDOT find cuts of $1.2 million to make, SDOT is reporting a $6.6 million shortfall of its own for 2010, due to unbudgeted expenses (snowstorm fiascos, playing kick-the-can with homeless camps) and declines in gas tax revenue.

Of this $7.8 million, about $3 million is “one-time” (depending on snow storm frequency) and almost $5 million is ongoing. If people keep driving less and gas tax revenues fall even more, then that ongoing number could grow. The upshot seems to be that you should consider heavy-duty tires and shocks for your next car. Good news for Subaru dealers, right?

McGinn is asking for further cuts to address the 2011 funding abyss (“gap” seems a little underpowered), and union talks are forthcoming. I love slashing bloated budgets as much as the next person, but the underlying trend here–chronic underfunding due to falling tax revenues–is alarming. You can’t slash your way out of making less money, and the budget summary here (pdf) contains no hint of how to address that.