Here’s the latest installment in the city’s ongoing battle with the budget…..
Tag Archives: city finances
New city motto: Expect Less
UPDATED: City staff get pink slips
The city of Bainbridge Island laid off six employees as part of a larger $2.3 million batch of planned cuts to keep pace with sharply declining revenues.
“Our cash levels have dropped to extremely low levels and our current revenues have seen dramatic decrease in the last few months,” City Administrator Mark Dombroski told the City Council during a meeting on Wednesday. “We have to take action now.”
The layoffs, proposed hiring freezes and other labor cost-cutting measures will help the city save about $1 million in 2009. Three employees in the planning department, two in public works and one in information technology were given termination notices this week. They are scheduled to leave in March.
“Unfortunately, the current economic reality has made (layoffs) unavoidable,” Dombroski said.
Thought things were bad with the city’s finances?
…Well it’s about to get worse.
Or, at least that’s what the city Finance Director Elray Konkel is hinting at.
He said today that 2009’s budgeted revenues are now expect to be “substantially lower than projected.”
Konkel will reveal the new projections at a special city finances workshop on Wednesday. The meeting starts at 5 p.m. and precedes the regular City Council meeting at 7.
The city’s already noted that ’08’s year-end cash balance came in at about $1.2 million under projections. The new numbers spurred talk last week of a 15 percent cut to the operations budget, including possible layoffs.
The new projections for ’09 will likely lead to another round of cuts.
I’ll keep you posted.
City finances need more council oversight, state auditors say
The city’s first tarnished state audit in five years could lead to stronger financial oversight from the City Council.
In a presentation to the city officials on Monday morning, auditors noted the city’s 2007 budget operations revealed a “major weakness” in the methods city staff used to transfer and document funds.
“Your internal controls need to be fixed,” said regional audit manager George Amburn.
Audit meeting officially open to the public
The city today posted a notice that city staff’s closed-door meeting with state auditor’s officials is now open to the public. Read more on this issue here, and see the city notice below.
