Valley considers cuts to Police Department, other expenses to balance city budget

Spokane Valley’s city staff shed more light Tuesday on cuts in services that the council could make to balance the 2005 budget.

City Manager David Mercier said the Spokane Valley Police Department might need to eliminate six positions: all three school resource officers and three of six traffic patrol officers. Officials had said earlier that as many as nine positions might be axed.

Decreasing traffic patrol is a delicate balance, Mercier said, because those officers also bring in revenue by issuing tickets.

The staff will present a proposed 2005 budget at the City Council meeting next week. It has been showing the council budget scenarios based on allocating only 1 percent more money to the city’s departments on average. Public safety will feel the biggest blow because it accounts for more than half of Spokane Valley’s $27.3 million general fund.

Making cuts in travel and training expenses, eliminating an administrative assistant position in the city’s finance department that’s vacant now, and tightening the belt in other ways will bring the city’s finances in line, according to Mercier.

The city is collecting less sales tax money than it had expected to receive prior to Valley incorporation. Councilman Richard Munson said the community will have to consider whether it’s willing to face cuts in programs, raise taxes to pay for the current service levels or do a little of both.

“It’s going to be a very interesting debate over the next few months,” he said.