Battle Ground’s city budget for 2020 features a drain on reserves in part due to a continuing structural deficit. Though unlike last year utility rates won’t rise, there will be a small increase in property taxes.
The Battle Ground City Council voted to approve the budget Dec. 2 following months of committee workshops and public hearings. The total budget from all funds was $43.7 million, an increase over the $43.3 million budgeted for 2019. This year’s actual expenses came in at slightly less than the initially-anticipated amount, however, due to staff changes in the police department, Battle Ground Finance Director Meagan Lowery explained.
The city’s 2020 budget would dip into fund balances across the board by about $2.7 million, according to budget documents. Lowery said the roughly $259,000 of general fund balance budgeted was the most concerning given its use for the general operations of a city — she said ideally that fund would have revenues equal to expenses.
The city’s budget for its general fund is budgeted for about $15.1 million in 2020, an increase over the close to $14.3 million budgeted in 2019. Lowery said most of the increases were due to cost-of-living adjustments and similar yearly increases.
To mitigate some of the deficit Lowery said that the city was able to make $660,000 in cuts. Those included not funding vacant positions and the dissolution of a lieutenant position in the police department due to the promotion of current Lt. Mike Fort to department chief next year following current chief Bob Richardson’s retirement.
Lowery added that next year’s budget won’t have the usual transfers from the general fund into others in order to mitigate drain on that fund. The city had also cut non-mandated training in their cost-containing efforts.
The city did plan on seeing some additional revenues for the general fund, including about $95,000 in additional property tax levy due to roughly $69 million of new construction in 2019. Though that increase was anticipated, Lowery said that the average increase in assessed value was lower than expected, up by only 6.92 percent in the past year compared to the 10 percent annual rise of past years.
The levy is planned to rise an additional $53,500 due to a 1.69 percent levy increase voted in by council last month. Given the average increase of assessed values that would result in a tax bill increase of about $23 for the year on a house that was valued at $310,000 for taxes due this year.
What won’t be increasing in 2020 are utility rates, which Lowery said was due to “staff diligence and re-prioritizing projects” as cost-containment measures.
For 2020 and future years the city faces a few financial unknowns. Any changes in funding resulting from the potential annexation of the city into Clark County Fire District 3 wouldn’t be felt by the city or taxpayers until 2021, including property tax increases or utility rate cuts the city would undertake should annexation move forward.
One funding unknown will have effects on the 2020 budget; that of the approval of Initiative 976 by voters in the past election. Although currently the implementation on fee and tax cuts the initiative brought are held up in litigation, if a court rules in favor of I-976 it would directly impact the city’s transportation benefit district (TBD) funding through a $20 car tab fee. Previously city public works director Mark Herceg said was anticipated to generate about $290,000 this year.
Lowery said the city had gone ahead and planned for a best-case scenario that the funding would still be there, though she noted that this year the budgeted amount was not completely used. Along with some existing fund balance the city would be able to maintain the roughly $300,000 budgeted for TBD funds if I-976 goes into effect.
This year the city formed a budget advisory committee to help with the process. Featuring three councilors alongside city staff Lowery said the committee allowed for more focused planning than previously where all of the workshopping was done with a full council.
“I think we did the best with the information we had at the time, making the decisions that were made, looking ahead to the future,” Lowery remarked.
