(The Center Square) – Spokane Valley officials heard a first reading of the city’s 2025 budget on Tuesday. Expenditures total nearly $150 million, roughly 40% more than budgeted for 2024.
Tuesday’s city council meeting marked the sixth time the officials heard presentations on the proposed budget before voting over its approval in the coming weeks. While the 2025 budget is 40% more than the $106.4 million budgeted for this year, over a third is dedicated to infrastructure projects.
The 2024 budget included $19.4 million in capital expenditures, and the 2025 proposal takes that to $56.3 million. However, according to Tuesday’s agenda, the city anticipates state and federal grant revenue covering over 80% of next year’s capital expenditures.
“Total appropriations or expenditures across all funds are about $149.6 million,” Finance Director Chelsie Walls told the council. “We adopt budgets across 31 city funds, with the total in the general fund of $64.8 million and all of the other funds of $84.9 million.”
The $64.8 million budgeted for the general fund next year is only about 2% more than initially budgeted in 2024, but expenditures are projected to exceed revenues by more than $1.1 million.
Luckily, the Valley has a general fund balance of $38.8 million, meaning the city won’t be in a hole due to the $1.1 million discrepancy. When the council adopted the budget last year, that delta was roughly $707,000.
The $84.9 million budgeted for all the other funds next year, including capital expenses, is 97% more than the $43 million for 2024; however, as previously mentioned, the city anticipates state and federal grants covering much of that.
The general fund mainly supports public safety, and according to Tuesday’s agenda, those costs increased by nearly 14% compared to 2024. Most of that is attributed to the need for 12 new police officers. Meanwhile, all the other general fund departments cut spending by about 5%.
The 2025 budget does not include a 1% increase in property taxes as provided by state law; last week, the council voted against the increase, taking the streak up to 16 consecutive years.
“The projected ending fund balance in the general fund at the end of 2025 is $37.7 million,” Walls said, “and that represents 59.68% of recurring expenditures, with our policy being it must be at least 50%.”
When considering the ending fund balance across every department, the Valley will have just under $90 million set aside by the end of 2025, about 2% less than it will start with in January.
Councilmember Al Merkel proposed a lengthy amendment requesting cuts across several different areas, but most of the council voted to keep the 2025 budget as currently proposed.
Merkel wants to see the Valley put more funding behind law enforcement after the council realized it needed almost 30 more officers in February. Councilmember Rod Higgins said Merkel was wasting their time and that funding the first ten is a challenge, let alone the rest.
“Every single meeting, we have the same conversation,” Mayor Pam Haley told Merkel after denying him the opportunity to continue his comments. “… At this point, I think we’re just going to move on.”
