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City's Crystal Ball shows big cuts if I-695 passes
City's Crystal Ball Shows Big Cuts if I-695 Passes
Published in the Herald-Republic on Tuesday, October 5, 1999
By WES NELSON
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC
Popular programs such as Drug Awareness and Resistance Education and numerous
other Yakima city services would go on the chopping block with voters' approval
of Initiative 695 in November, city officials said Monday.
City Manager Dick Zais on Monday outlined specific cuts if voters pass the
measure that would repeal the 2.2 percent state motor-vehicle excise tax --
a source of more than $1.4 million in revenue to city police, fire and court
services.
City officials also believe the initiative, which would slash most vehicle
license tabs to a flat $30, also would require a public vote on all tax, fee
and rate increases by state and local governments.
Zais said the Yakima City Council can't avoid cuts, but it will try to ease
the pain.
"Can we live with them? Yes, if the public accepts the choices we've made,"
Zais said.
Zais defended the city's analysis of the initiative's possible impact on its
budget.
"I have to make assumptions that it will pass," he said. "I want to be sure
the city is prepared."
MVET funding provides for seven police officer and seven firefighter positions.
In all, police and fire departments receive more than $1.2 million of the $1.4
million in MVET funding that goes into the city's general fund.
Under one budget scenario, they would lose a combined $577,000 in funding,
including the loss of four police officers and three firefighter positions and
the elimination of D.A.R.E. and Gang Resistance Education and Training programs.
The Summer Park Patrol, a youth employment program that provides bike patrols
of city parks and the Yakima Greenway, and a firefighter reserve program also
would be lost.
"You can't hold police and fire exempt when they're half the budget," Zais
said.
But others will share their pain.
Parks and recreation would take a $209,000 hit, leading to the closure of Lions
Pool during the summer when other pools are open. Meanwhile, operations at Miller,
Washington and Eisenhower pools would be reduced two weeks.
The city finance and budget department would lose $212,000 and the Yakima Valley
Regional Library would lose $69,000, resulting in the closure of its Summitview
Avenue branch on Sundays and downtown library Thursday nights.
Some of the finance and budget losses would affect the city's municipal court.
One prosecutor's position would be cut, and the city could stop prosecuting
crimes such as minor shoplifting (under $50) and fighting in public. And it
may no longer put people in jail for driving with a suspended or invalid license.
The city administration would lose $141,000, the department of community and
economic development $135,760 and the streets and traffic division $123,196.
Community service agencies such as Substance Abuse Coalition and Fourth of
July Committee would face a 33 percent cut in funding, Zais said.
The Yakima Gang Prevention and Intervention Coalition would lose up to 20 percent
of its annual $75,000 allocation, Zais said.
Mayor John Puccinelli said the city's general fund, which makes up 40 percent
of the city's $102 million budget, already suffers from stagnating sales tax
revenue.
The loss of MVET funding is no different from a wage earner's loss of income,
he said.
"You get out there two or three years and you really start to feel that pinch
in your paycheck," he said. "You keep cutting and cutting and pretty soon your
lifestyle starts to change."
Zais said an annual property tax increase of 6 percent -- about $585,000 in
additional revenue to the city -- now seems critical.
"If I didn't have the property tax I'd be in a world of hurt," he said.
Puccinelli blamed the city's predicament on the Legislature which, he said,
has ignored longstanding complaints about the cost to license motor vehicles.
He vowed to lead a charge among the state's mayors to Olympia should I-695
pass.
"If it doesn't pass, there'll be a big sigh of relief" at City Hall, Puccinelli
predicted.
