Spokane media content manager Jeff Humphrey laid off at CityCable5 as $50 million budget deficit looms

When it became clear that drastic changes would be needed to fill a $50 million deficit in the city of Spokane’s budget, Jeff Humphrey thought he would be the one explaining the city’s plan to residents.

Instead, the city’s media content manager was among the first to be laid off.

Humphrey, 62, who describes his job making videos highlighting city departments, projects and employees as being the city’s chief storyteller, received a layoff notice on June 18. His last day will be Friday.

City officials say Humphrey’s lost position is more about a reorganization of his department than the budget shortfall, but it does hint at tough decisions to come for Mayor Lisa Brown as her administration seeks to fill the $50 million deficit it inherited across the city’s $1.2 billion budget.

Because the city is legally required to pass a balanced budget, the deficits must either be addressed by deep cuts, higher taxes or some combination of the two.

Spokane city leaders have until the end of the year to determine how to balance the budget. Mayor Lisa Brown initially proposed a property tax increase that would have raised $38 million a year, but reversed course and recently proposed a sales tax increase of 0.1% that would generate an estimated $7.7 million in its first year. Spokane City Council members are expected to decide next week if they will ask voters for the tax on the November ballot.

Since May, the Brown administration has asked most city departments to identify cuts of up to 10% per department that may need to be put in place if the city doesn’t significantly raise property taxes. The budget exercise has identified as much as $22 million in cost savings in the general fund, though that number is not final as the administration determines which cuts may not be worth the savings, particularly for smaller departments, said Matt Boston, the city’s chief financial officer.

City spokesperson Erin Hut said planning for potential budget cuts is “very much in the early stages” and may not specifically involve layoffs. As of Monday, no notices have been given as a result of the city’s budget shortfall, and no positions have been identified for layoffs. But once that decision is made, the city hopes to provide employees notice long before being laid off at the end of the year.

“If we have to give people layoff notices, we intend to do that earlier rather than later,” Hut said in an interview last week.

She said the restructuring within the communications department and subsequent laying off of Humphrey was “separate” from the budget cut exercises conducted by each department.

President of Local 270 of the Washington State Council of County and City Employees Joe Cavanaugh said Spokane members of his union are “very uneasy” as budget cuts loom. Police Guild President Dave Dunkin said officers are “holding our breath with hope.”

Both union leaders said they did not expect layoffs in the immediate future. Representing the vast majority of city employees, Cavanaugh said he expects some layoffs “down the road.” Dunkin said he hopes to avoid layoffs among police amid the department’s hiring freeze and a plan to provide early retirement incentives to police officers at the top of the pay scale.

Asked about the potential layoffs, City Councilman Paul Dillon said elected leadership will do “everything we can for working families employed at the city.”

Dillon hopes to avoid budget cuts by raising new sources of revenue. One suggestion from Dillon is taxing corporations if compensation for leadership is too disproportionate to their average worker.

“We can’t cut our way out of this budget crisis,” he said. “You never do more with less, you do less with less. We need to be honest about that.”

Humphrey said his understanding was that he was being laid off due to a reorganization of the communications department and the budget shortfall.

He offered to take a pay cut to stay through the end of the year and suggested furloughs in his department in hopes of continuing to communicate what these budget cuts would cost city residents in services, Humphrey said.

“I offered to stay on through the end of the year with a pay cut so I could explain to the viewers, here are the impacts,” Humphrey said. “I wanted to say, ‘So here’s what you’re going to be missing.’ ”

Asked about his specific case, Hut said she could not comment on personnel matters.

Humphrey was a well-known news anchor in Spokane for decades, first at KREM and then at KXLY. He joined the city about seven years ago in a somewhat experimental role, creating segments similar to what might appear on a nightly news cast on behalf of the city.

His role was to put a “smart, likable, efficient face on the city’s employees,” Humphrey said.

He did a series called “Behind the Badge” highlighting the city’s first responders. He also worked heavily with the city’s planning department to explain how often seemingly boring policy decisions impact people’s daily lives.

“I made planning sexy,” Humphrey said with a chuckle. “Everything you like about Spokane happened because of planning, and everything you don’t like about Spokane is because of bad planning or not planning.”

Humphrey’s love for the job and the city he has called home for decades makes the layoff even more difficult, but he said he understands the tough position city leaders are in.

“I know that they’re working hard, and I’m sure it’s not fun at all to try and balance the budget and know about the impact that it’s going to have on services,” Humphrey said.

As the city tries to figure out its next chapter, Humphrey is doing the same. He hopes to continue as a storyteller for another municipality. With such political division in the country right now, highlighting hardworking public employees is something Humphrey said can bring people together.

“I think that’s the only way to keep people involved in the government,” Humphrey said of honest communication and storytelling. “I would really like to continue doing the job I’m doing for some outfit, because seeing is believing.”

Spokesman-Review reporter Emry Dinman contributed to this report