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The City of Enumclaw is in the process of finalizing the 2009 City Budget. The City Council will be holding several Budget Workshops to review and set the 2009 Budget. The current Workshop schedule: City Council Budget Workshop Dates (all 7:00 p.m., Wednesdays)
Reading of the 2009 Budget Ordinances (both at Regular Council Meetings, Mondays at 7:30 p.m.)
From Mayor John Wise's Introduction to the 2009 Preliminary Budget:
"It is with great pleasure that we present the 2009 Preliminary Budget to the citizens of the City of Enumclaw. This balanced budget maintains basic services, provides improvements where possible, prepares for change as our City grows, and matches expenditures with existing and projected resources. The 2009 Preliminary Budget is the Mayors recommended budget for the coming year and constitutes his recommendations for spending in all areas, operations, capital projects, and establishment of reserves. The budget process is an evolving process and may require changes by the Mayor or Council at any time until the budget is finalized. Updated information from the Finance Department may be provided to Council. Changes will occur upon Council direction and approval.
municipal court, arts, utility operations, water, sewer, natural gas, and solid waste, as well as operating a pool, golf course, cemetery, and, beginning in 2007, the Enumclaw Exposition Center. Situated in a rural setting near the rugged beauty of Mt. Rainer, the City enjoys the benefits of its proximity to two major metropolitan centers. We seek to protect and enhance the numerous values that make our community unique.
Financial Health 2008 has brought us one, if not the most, challenging financial year nationally in the history of our country. Locally, we have seen, and our budget has been impacted by, a significant reduction in home sales, a reduction in sales tax, most notably in the auto sales sector, high fuel costs and a significant reduction in interest income. Our business vacancy rate downtown has also increased. In addition, the virtual collapse of our banking industry has made it close to impossible to sell bonds for municipal projects, causing the cost of department financing to increase to the point of conventional financing. Yet with all this negative financial news, our City has continued to build on its financial future...
...Overall, the City is in stable financial shape going into 2009. The 2009 budget has been developed keeping a close eye on the ever changing, mostly downward, economy. With anticipated shortfalls in sales tax and other revenue areas, the 2009 budget has been balanced using a combination of cuts, position freezes and reserves. Over the past several years of growing economy, we had built our general fund reserves to nearly $2,000,000. In the 2009 budget, our minimum reserve policy requires a general fund reserve of approximately $800,000. The 2009 budget still maintains an ending fund reserve of $1,604,642, well above our minimum requirement. This budget does not recommend a reduction in current staffing levels but rather promotes a wait and see attitude as our economic condition continues to unfold. Should it continue a downward spiral and look to be longer than a 18 month to 2 year recovery period, I would look to make changes at mid-year 2009. In this manner, the City will continue to provide the services that this community has come to expect from its local government."
Please Note: You will need version 6.0 (or greater) of Adobe Acrobat to view the budget document. Get a free version here.
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