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Bedeviled by disincorporationists and critics of the Sprague-Appleway Revitalization Plan, the Spokane Valley City Council offered a bit of scholastic counter-programming on Tuesday night.
Dubbed “City Finance 101,” City Manager David Mercier gave the council – and the few non-city employees in attendance – a presentation on where Spokane Valley’s money comes from and goes to.
While the city’s budget is “constantly evolving,” Mercier pointed out there are certain tenets that have held true when it comes the municipality’s coffers.
First, Mercier reported there are 88,920 living in Spokane Valley – the city’s grown by about 6,000 since it incorporated back in 2003 – with 44,144 jobs at 6,100 registered businesses, mostly (78 percent) retail services. The city has remained the seventh largest city in Washington.
Mercier said the city’s $110.9 million budget has grown, nearly a third is carryover from the previous year. At the end of 2004, for example, the city carried over $2.9 million. At the end of 2009, the city expects to have $34.4 million left in the bank.
“We’ve been careful,” Mercier said.
In the taxes the city collects, the greatest amount comes from retail sales. However, most of the 8.7 percent collected on everything from Blu-Ray players to Buicks goes to the state. The rest is divided between the county, city and voter-approved requests that go toward everything from bus service (Spokane Transit Authority’s .6 percent) or public safety (Crime Check, juvenile courts, etc.).
When it comes to property taxes, Spokane Valley collects only $1.50 per $1,000 assessed valuation, Mercier said, adding there are entities that take much more. The relatively small West Valley School District, for example, takes $5.82 per $1,000 assessed value from its property owners.
“The average Spokane Valley citizen pays $20.54 a month in property taxes,” Mercier said, adding that is probably less than most folks’ basic telephone bills.
Mercier also went on to say that what the city collects in property taxes is basically equivalent to what goes toward public safety, which amounts to about $20 million a year for the sheriff’s contract, court services, jails and animal control.
“Every dollar, nickel and penny of property taxes goes toward public safety,” Mercier said.
There are clouds on the horizon, however. Like most city and county governments, revenue streams are having a tough time meeting spending demands. The city’s general fund forecast is in the red by over $7 million in 2013 with the city’s road fund also in rough shape around that same time.
Still, the numbers are always shifting as the unexpected is always expected in city finances.
“I have no confidence in any of these numbers,” Mercier said, pointing to the budget forecast. “What I do have confidence in is the trends.”
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By
Mike Huffman
