SEQUIM — Teenagers, human-service agencies and economic development all won out, as the Sequim City Council voted Monday night to adopt a 2010 budget that supports the three “community investments,” as finance director Karen Goschen called them, and increases property taxes.
The vote was 5-1 for the budget, with member Erik Erichsen casting the lone dissenting vote, and Susan Lorenzen away for the Thanksgiving holiday.
The council also voted 5-1, with Erichsen against, a 1 percent increase in property taxes for city residents in 2010.
The adopted budget projects $7.477 million in general-fund expenditures, but only $7.023 million in general fund revenues.
A draw of $454,510 from the city’s reserves will close the gap, Goschen noted, and leave a projected balance of $997,155 at the end of the year.
Erichsen voted against the budget, in large part, because of his strong objection to the item earmarking $60,000 for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula’s teen program.
“It does not ‘take a village to raise a child,'” Erichsen said, contradicting fellow member Walt Schubert’s call for the city to support its youth.
“The children are part of our community,” Schubert said.
“They’re not taxpayers,” Erichsen shot back.
“No interruptions, please,” said Mayor Laura Dubois.
Schubert finished by saying that young people deserve support from the city.
When it came time to vote for the 1 percent property-tax increase, Erichsen was again blunt about his objection.
“We’ve just given away $110,000,” he said, referring to the $60,000 for the teen club plus $50,000 for the United Way of Clallam County, another item in the adopted budget.
‘Too much money’
To his mind, the city is handing out cash; apparently “we have too much money,” and don’t need a tax increase.
The majority of the council voted for the hike.
Goschen estimated that for the owner of a $250,000 home, it will mean an additional $4 on next year’s property-tax bill.
For much of Monday’s meeting, the council listened to an ardent litany from Sequim residents who believe in the Boys & Girls Club’s teen programming.
Emily Westcott, who taught at a juvenile correctional center for 10 years, warned that at-risk teens are in danger of falling through the cracks, and winding up in prison.
“I’ve seen those kids,” she said. “You can pay now, or you can pay later,” for juvenile detention.
Visitor center
Also in the 2010 budget, the council allocated $65,375 in lodging-tax revenues for the Visitor Information Center, the travelers’ way station at 1192 E. Washington St.
The Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce and about 60 volunteers run the center, and asked for $13,675 more than in 2009 because of what chamber executive director Vickie Maples said was a more accurate cost analysis, plus increased utility costs and a new marketing plan.
Erichsen had objected to the steep increase, but the other council members endorsed the center, which sees nearly 25,000 visitors yearly.
With the council’s financial work done for the time being, Sequim’s new city manager offered optimistic words.
The 2010 budget is balanced, Steve Burkett acknowledged, thanks to the infusion from the city’s reserves. But “I’m very confident we can avoid that in 2011.”
Unless “further economic catastrophe” befalls the region, Burkett believes Sequim can avoid further drawing down of its general fund balance, and instead begin building it again.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladaily news.com.
