Budgeting, general fund-style

In a Sept. 19 workshop, Cheney City Council members asked department heads to present current budget needs, and how those needs fit into a larger future picture for the city.

Part 1 last week dealt with departments with dedicated revenue streams. Part 2 focuses on departments supported by the city’s general fund, revenues for which come mostly through property taxes, sales and other taxes and user fees.

Police Department

Cheney Police Chief John Hensley said he and management staff met in August and developed a list of priorities to determine funding needs. Those priorities are safety; meeting federal, state and regional mandates for contracts and compliance along with identifying items maintaining and enhancing current level of service (LOS) and could be pursued if funds are available.

Needs fell into two areas: infrastructure and training. The former listed the need for an administrative assistant’s position, procuring ammunition and repairing the parking lot, among other needs.

Hensley said increased firearms training is also needed, along with training in weapon-less defense and crowd control.

“I can’t imagine that this list will be fully granted,” he said. He added the department currently is on schedule to replace its vehicle fleet, with four new vehicles scheduled for this year and three later.

“And then we’ll be done,” he said. “Once those are done, I won’t be asking for cars every year.”

The department has had success this year in taking over enforcing the city’s nuisance codes. Hensley said Capt. Rick Campbell has taken on this task, reviewing over 400 cases since June while sending 50 letters requesting compliance. All but six have complied, and those six have asked for extensions, he added.

Municipal Court

Cheney Municipal Court Administrator/Commissioner Terri Cooper told council her main priority was maintaining the current level of service. The court has been successful in doing that over the years despite seeing its budget trimmed and needed requests going unfilled.

“We have not had to cut any of our services and I’m really pleased,” Cooper said.

The court has been successful at recouping costs for things such as jail and electronic home-monitoring and warrant services. It has a full-service probation department with a number of therapy and testing programs, and has been able to save the city over $100,000 in costs since 2007 by procuring public defense grants.

Cheney has contracted with the Medical Lake to handle that city’s court services, with probation fees coming to Cheney. But handling those cases has increased duties for court staff, as has an increase in parking collections at EWU.

Cooper has requested $14,000 for funding a part-time court clerk to help with administrative duties, many of which are state-mandated. Another important item is $2,000 to help pay for a domestic violence advocate.

Since 2013, Abuse Recovery Ministry and Services (ARMS) has provided the service for free, making approximately 1,117 contacts with DV victims. In a letter to Mayor Tom Trulove, ARMS stated that limited personnel and monetary resources would lead to service being discontinued as of Oct. 1, and Cooper is hoping the council will approve funding in order to keep that going, especially as DV cases have increased.

Fire Department

City Administrator Mark Schuller said priorities include finding not just a new fire chief, but the “right chief,” along with beginning to finance replacement of the department’s No. 1 attack engine, which is almost 30 years old. Schuller said the engine is on its third transmission, and was not built to carry around the equipment required for fighting fires in the 21st century. Replacement costs would likely start around $550,000.

Staffing is also an issue, he said, with an emphasis on recruiting more volunteers. Trulove said a recruitment effort is needed.

“Volunteer (numbers) have hit rock bottom,” he added.

The department is seeing a steady increase in emergency medical service (EMS) calls, many of which come in simultaneously, creating a need for more equipment to stock two EMS trucks. Long term, Schuller said the fire station would need major capital improvements such as a new roof and heating, ventilating and air conditioning system upgrades.

Schuller also said they would begin talking to other communities about possibly creating a regional ambulance service as department personnel have expressed concerns about the current provider, American Medical Response.

Finance Department

Finance Director Cindy Niemeier said the city’s new website should be up in 2017, and would provide enhanced services for residents. As such, she would like to see the department look into purchasing a new electronic bill paying system, along with an iPad compatible agenda software package enabling posting of resolutions and ordinances online.

“Next year (2017) we may do an RFP (request for proposal), see what’s out there,” she said.

Niemeier said they would also issue an RFP for a different paperless billing system, but won’t look at obtaining any new public records software.

“I think there are other things more important,” she added.

In an Oct. 10 email, Schuller wrote that the council brought up several issues and priorities they would like to see in the 2017 budget, namely adding staff to maintain parks as well as making improvements to those facilities citywide. He added that he and Trulove were wrapping up meeting with department heads this week.

“We will fine tune the budget and bring it back to council for their input and ultimate approval,” Schuller said.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].