PORT ANGELES — City residents can expect the same core services and stable utility rates they had this year in 2021 despite significant budget impacts from COVID-19, Port Angeles officials said.
The City Council received Tuesday a $122.8 million preliminary budget that includes provisions to weather the pandemic with no major impacts to citizens.
“I just want to reiterate the 2021 budget is sustainably balanced as it is proposed,” Finance Director Sarina Carrizosa told the council.
“It does allow for the wide range of city services that we offer. We’re not looking at any kind of reduction in services for our citizens.”
The City Council will conduct two public hearings on the budget proposal before adopting a final spending plan in December.
The proposed city budget is available at cityofpa.us/152/Budget. It commits $23.6 million to capital improvements and represents a 3.6 percent decrease from the 2020 budget.
“I think it is safe to say that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted just about every aspect of the city’s budget, not just in revenue collections, but also in our expenditure side in how we build our budget and use those revenues,” Carrizosa said.
Most city customers will see no change in their electric rates in 2021, Carrizosa said.
“It would just be the high-usage customers that would see a slight increase in our rates,” she said.
Highlights of the preliminary budget include the addition of a community paramedic and grant-funded capital protects for Race Street and a new section of the Olympic Discovery Trail at Hill Street, Carrizosa said.
“This presentation has been extremely good news,” Council member Mike French said.
“The fact that we’re not looking at extensive cuts is, like Sarina said, a testament to those financial policies that our staff has followed.
The proposed $21.5 million general fund budget for day-to-day operations was balanced though the use of $787,600 in reserves from 2019 savings.
“These are for one-time capital and one-time large, specialized projects,” Carrizosa said.
A $787,600 use of general fund reserves would leave the city with a $5.4 million ending fund balance, or 25.1 percent of general fund spending, going into 2022.
The City Council in 2017 adopted new financial polices, including a 25 percent general fund reserve. The previous target for the general fund was 10 percent of spending.
“Past financial decisions of the city have really enabled us to be where we are today,” Carrizosa said.
The city’s general fund supports core services like police, fire, public works and utilities, parks and recreation and planning.
First-year council members Brendan Meyer and LaTrisha Suggs suggested the addition of a grant writer to the 2021 budget.
A dedicated grant specialist could help secure more funds for the city, Suggs said.
French agreed with the sentiment but questioned the timing of the proposal.
“My focus, I would say, for 2021 is retaining core services,” French said.
“We’ve heard from our constituents loud and clear that code compliance is a high priority, and this budget retains that capability to provide that service.”
City Manger Nathan West said the staff has limited capacity to manage existing grants.
“All of our departments participate in grant applications every year, and the team brings in multiple millions of dollars each year in grants already,” West said.
“It is very impressive. What is a major capacity challenge is the management of grants.”
Given the uncertainties of COVID-19, West said he would not recommend a grant specialist in the 2021 budget.
Council member Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin predicted a “dire macroeconomic situation” in 2021 from a COVID-19-related homelessness.
“Having our residents lose housing is going to be one of the major issues of 2021, and we need some solutions for it,” Schromen-Wawrin said.
“If that comes from staff time, it needs to be budgeted for now.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
