It appears no cuts or plans for additional revenue will be part of the city of Kent’s 2021-2022 budget that Mayor Dana Ralph brings before the City Council on Sept. 29.
“When we made our COVID-19 budget cuts, we were very deliberate to make sure we were cutting deep enough to get us through 2020 as well as the 2021-2022 biennium barring some new 2020- type things that could happen, we were pretty confident,” Ralph said at a budget mini-retreat virtual meeting on Aug. 10 with the council. “That’s why I use the term status quo budget because we are not anticipating additional revenue or having to make any major cuts.”
Ralph eliminated 11 positions in May as part of a solution to a $15.2 million shortfall due to COVID-19. The mayor also decided to use $5 million from the general fund reserves to help cover the loss of revenue from sales tax, business and occupation (B&O) tax, utility fees, permit fees and licenses. She reduced the capital budget transfer fund from the general fund by $3.2 million. The final step to cover the deficit included using $1 million from the city’s Health and Wellness Fund.
In total, city departments made $5 million in ongoing reductions and $1.5 million in one-time cuts.
All of those moves should put the city in position as Ralph said for a status quo budget that she presents next month to the council. The council will then deliberate about any budget changes to make prior to voting to approve the budget in November.
Ralph does plan to propose to add a new race and equity manager job to the budget to help address issues faced by the city.
“We have already started the conversation around a race and equity manager position,” Ralph said. “That is in the works and will be coming to you as part of the upcoming budget.”
Several council members said they support the new position.
“I think the racial and social justice manager or whatever you want to call that person is critical so we can see how we can bring someone in to help us with strategy,” Councilmember Bill Boyce said.
The council indicated reserve funds could be used to pay for the position, but will look to Ralph and Chief Administrative Officer Derek Matheson to figure out how to work the position into the budget.
The council also supports the possibility of hiring a consultant to analyze police data to provide reports to the public. Council members didn’t discuss specific details about what the reports would contain, but looked to Police Chief Rafael Padilla to oversee what statistic analysis people are seeking and what numbers could be put into a report. The council indicated using reserve funds to pay for that.
The mayor and council are looking at about a $103 million general fund budget for 2021 and a $107 million general fund budget in 2022 when revenues are expected to slightly increase, mainly from the city’s B&O tax. Revenues are projected to be down about $15 million in 2021 from 2019 and about $3 million from 2020.
General fund reserves are expected to be at about $31 million by the end of 2020.
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