Kenmore City Council is now considering its first biennial budget, supplied by City Manager Frederick Stouder and Finance Director Joanne Gregory earlier this month.
According to Stouder, the city is following a general trend in creating a two-year spending plan, instead of the one-year budgets proposed locally in the past.
“It just makes sense from a forecasting aspect,” he said, adding the change allows the city to focus on longer-term trends.
Stouder emphasized officials still will need to take a good look at the numbers toward the end of 2009.
According to the city’s Web site, for 2009-2010, the city is projecting overall expenditures of approximately $70 million. The figure includes general-fund expenditures of $20.7 million. Those latter dollars go toward the routine operations of the city, including items such as salaries and public safety.
Though the city is adopting a two-year budget, as he delivered the proposed spending plan to City Council, Stouder emphasized his administration’s plans for 2009.
Stouder said the general-fund budget for the coming year is projected at $12.9 million, about 2 percent more than in 2008. Of those dollars, $10.6 million are directed at services and $2.3 million is expected still to be in Kenmore’s coffers at the end of the year.
The overall budget for 2009 has been set at $42.3 million, compared to $52.8 million in 2008. Stouder said the difference is primarily due to this year’s expenditure for improvements to State Route 522. He later added capital-improvement projects will continue to be significant budget items.
In total, the city’s capital-improvement fund is expected to reach just over $9 million in 2009. In terms of projects, Stouder pointed to the much-discussed construction of a new Kenmore City Hall, along with a detailed surface-water plan.
For her part, Gregory agreed the bulk of Kenmore’s budget consists of capital-improvement projects. She said the proposed city hall is obviously a large consideration, but also talked about extensive transportation plans.
Besides completing work on SR 522, Gregory pointed to plans to widen 68th Avenue Northeast south of 522.
Gregory also said the city has placed an emphasis on parks and recreation and in this case mentioned a $1.6 million plan to enhance Log Boom Park by expanding the existing beach, adding landscaping and taking other steps.
In terms of revenues, Stouder told council the estimated property tax rate for a Kenmore resident should be about $1.26 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. That number is down from the levy rate of $1.33 in 2008. For a homeowner with property valued at $400,000, the difference is a decrease of $28.
Stouder pointed out Kenmore collects only about 12 percent of the property taxes paid by city residents, with the majority of those dollars going to the state and the Northshore School District. He also stated he is not recommending the city take the 1-percent hike in property taxes allowed by the state and noted Kenmore has not taken that increase since 2004.
In terms of the city’s overall financial condition, despite well-known economic problems stretching from the federal level to King County, Gregory said Kenmore’s finances have remained stable. She added part of the reason is the city has not been hit as hard as some jurisdictions by slumping retail sales and thus slumping retail tax collections.
According to Gregory, Kenmore simply doesn’t have the types of retail operations, such as car lots, that have seen their sales take major hits due to economic concerns. She said Kenmore’s retail tax dollars come mostly from such operations as grocery stores, where spending has remained fairly constant. Still, she said the city will watch its bottom line fairly carefully.
“We have been able to maintain services, but we have been hesitant to take on new services,” Gregory said. “We’re being very cautious and watching changes month to month as our revenues come in.”
City Council must adopt a 2009 budget by the end of the year and is expected to vote on the biennial plan at its Dec. 8 meeting.
