PORT TOWNSEND — With expenses expected to outpace revenues the next five years, city officials are looking to consolidate services or create special taxing districts to balance the budget.
Finance Director Michael Legarsky presented a budget model Monday night for the city’s general fund showing expenditures growing about 50 percent faster than revenue in 2003 and 2004.
From 2005 through 2007, revenue growth would only narrowly outpace expenditures, he said.
According to the model, money in the city’s general fund reserve would dwindle from $1.15 million today to just $580,000 in five years.
City Manager David Timmons said that was below the acceptable reserve threshold of 8 percent of general fund revenue set by the City Council.
“Do we have an immediate problem?” City Manager David Timmons asked. “No. We have more of a long-term problem.
“We have to develop some strategy to try and bring this into balance.”
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The rest of the story appears in the Wednesday Peninsula Daily News Jefferson County edition. Click on SUBSCRIBE to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.
