(The Center Square) – The Spokane City Council, having recently approved millions in spending for the new labor contract with the Spokane Police Guild, is asking the mayor and her administration for answers on the 2024 budget.
“We need the best information that we can get to make those difficult decisions. It’s never been about us versus them. We just don’t want to set you up, or the city up, for this financial structure that we cannot sustain,” said Councilmember Betsy Wilkerson during last Monday’s city council meeting approving the guild contract.
A contract that was approved by unanimous vote.
This Friday, the City Council again presented a united front releasing a statement asking for the Mayor to submit the 2024 budget nearly two and a half months early.
According to Washington State RCW 35.33.051, the budget isn’t legally required until the first working day of October every year.
However, according to a recently passed revision to the Spokane Municipal Code Section 07.14.030B, the Mayor is already two weeks overdue on what the council is calling a pre-year audit.
The Council is making this request to “understand any anticipated financial pressure points for 2024,” after discovering what they called “red flags” during approval of the public safety overtime budget for the 2023 budget process.
According to projections by the Council’s Budget Director Matt Boston, the administration revised their budget projections from a $500k surplus for 2023 to a deficit of nearly $9 million.
Numbers that both the City Council and Lisa Brown, one of the frontrunners in Spokane’s mayoral race, agree on.
“In 2024, this deficit is anticipated to increase further and does not consider the funding needed to operate the Trent Resource Assistance Center (TRAC) shelter, which has $16 million in operation costs to date, nor the unfunded request of Police and Fire vehicles,” according to the statement released Friday by City Council Communications Director Lisa Gardner.
As chair of the Finance Council, that worries Councilmember Wilkerson.
“We have a Regional Homeless Coalition waiting on us to provide our plans, and we cannot move forward without having a glimpse into the City’s budget for 2024. Waiting until October to present a budget does not allow Council to pivot if needed,” said Wilkerson in a statement.
She went on to note that the council as a whole is fiscally conservative, a sentiment that fellow Councilmember Michael Cathcart shares.
“Transparency allows this Council to become better stewards of taxpayer funds, lead with flexibility, and honor commitments made to the community. Our intent is that the administration continues to make financial investments in our constituents’ core priorities while paving the way for sustainable fiscal decisions,” said Cathcart in a statement.
It was Cathcart who championed the recent ordinance to bring greater transparency to the city’s budgeting process, as previously reported by The Center Square.
