Revenues for the city of Cheney continue to go up — led mostly by an increase in assessed property values but also somewhat by construction activity.
During two budget presentations at its Oct. 9 meeting, Finance Director Cindy Niemeier told the City Council that projected governmental revenues for 2019 should top $12.83 million, with general fund revenues accounting for just over $8.57 million. It’s an increase of just over 1.5 percent from 2018’s governmental revenue’s budgeted $12.83 million, and about 1.75 percent over 2017’s $11.59 million.
In all three cases, increases in the city’s assessed property values helped drive the increase in funding. The valuation for 2019 of over $654.53 million is $18.77 million more than 2018’s just short of $635.77 million, but is much smaller than the $61.94 million bump from 2017 to 2018, and smaller than the almost $34.07 between 2016 and 2017.
However, 2019’s increase is still way more than Cheney saw between 2010 and 2015, when the city’s assessed value increased by just over $6.2 million.
Much of this increase can be attributed to growth, not only in the city itself but also at Eastern Washington University. Over the past eight years the university has seen renovation work at its main classroom building, Patterson Hall, along with the Pence Union Building and the new snyamncut residence hall — although much of this valuation was overlooked by the Spokane County Assessor’s office and not included in the city’s totals until City Administrator Mark Schuller and former fire chief Mike Winters uncovered the Assessor’s error in 2015.
That growth plays a huge part in the increase to Cheney’s main source of governmental income, taxes — which account for 53 percent of the governmental budget. Of that almost $6.79 million, property taxes — including those for the public safety levy lid lift and EMS — make up over 34.81 percent of the total.
The other large chunk of those taxes — $1.4 million in general sales tax — is also contingent on growth, somewhat to the city’s ability to realize some reliable revenue.
“Cheney doesn’t have a lot of toys,” Niemeier said, alluding to the city’s lack of car, RV or boat dealerships and other businesses selling big ticket items.
“Our sales tax is dependent on our building,” she added.
Also dependent on that growth are items such as utility taxes, up from 2018’s budgeted $1.02 million to $1.2 million. Also included are residential street taxes and parks and recreation taxes, both of which are projected conservatively to remain flat at $420,100 and $475,000 respectively.
If Cheney’s residential construction continues, and there’s no evidence it won’t, those sales taxes should remain strong in 2019, with the possibility of growth from projects such as Eastern’s Interdisciplinary Science Center and several planned multifamily residential complexes along with development of single-family and two-family phases in Golden Hills contributing to local coffers.
That growth has also led to an increase in revenue from building, mechanical and plumbing permits. Budgeted at $150,000 in 2018, that figure has topped $218,000 so far. These project do carry a caveat, Niemeier told the council, in that the permits are paid for up front, but the city often doesn’t deliver fully on its services until later — sometimes in different budget years.
The other big portion of the governmental revenue pie, accounting for 24 percent, is charges for services, which in 2019 is budgeted at $3.025 million, up from just over $2.92 million. Those charges include everything from the fire contract with EWU to an agreement with the school district to furnish a school resource officer to planning, recreation and court probation and monitoring fees.
The revenue pays for Cheney services such as police (29 percent), fire (19 percent), finance (11 percent), parks and recreation (10 percent) and streets (9 percent).
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
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