(The Center Square) – As Spokane continues to grapple with its structural budget gap, the city now says the deficit stands at $14 million after a series of cuts and new contracts. Mayor Lisa Brown proposed two additional cost-saving measures on Wednesday
Brown and other city officials referred to the structural gap as a $50 million deficit a few months ago. However, since a July budget meeting, the language has shifted toward referring to it as a $25 million deficit, which fails to consider the nearly $21 million in depleted reserves since 2019.
Still, Brown has proposed two new measures after taking several steps to remedy the overwhelming deficit she inherited in January. This round of proposals includes voluntary retirement incentives, similar to another recent measure for law enforcement, and delaying annual cost-of-living adjustments for her cabinet members.
“When I took office, I made a commitment to our residents to manage the City of Spokane’s finances responsibly,” Brown wrote in a news release, “and today’s updated projection is a testament to that promise.”
The retirement incentives follow conversations with the Managerial and Professional Association to extend the offer to tenured city employees. The benefits range from $10,000 to $20,000, with the minimum requirement being at least 10 years of service.
If the city council approves the measure, according to the release, the benefits would be distributed as such:
“$10,000 for employees with at least 10 but less than 15 years of service$15,000 for employees with at least 15 but less than 20 years of service$20,000 (maximum) for employees with 20 years or more of service”
Those employees could then use those funds to continue certain provisions of their health insurance and pay premiums for private care or any other allowable expense under their plan.
Those hoping to participate must apply by Oct. 11 and end their employment by Dec. 3 if the city council approves the measure.
Even without this retirement incentive and delaying the cost-of-living adjustments, Brown has already “reduced the structural deficit from $25 million to $14 million,” according to the release.
Those savings come from the recently approved police retirement incentives, renegotiated IT contracts, cutting vacant positions, cabinet furlough days and other cutbacks.
Cuts come with consequences, though, which some of the community and elected officials have warned. Replacing veteran police officers with newcomers lacking that experience could negatively impact public safety as many officials hope to increase enforcement efforts.
At the same time, Council President Betsy Wilkerson mentioned that around 50% of people working in City Hall are already eligible for retirement, with not many lined up to take their place.
Offering incentives to take up that retirement could lead the city down a path of having to round up a number of replacements.
“Through careful planning and tough decisions,” Brown wrote, “we have managed to bring our budget closer to balance and are continuing our work to ensure we get fully back on track.”
