By John McCallum
Managing Editor 

Council OKs saving for another fire truck

Some of levy lid lift funding to be set aside for ladder truck instead of public safety personnel

 

Last updated 12/9/2019 at 2:34pm



CHENEY – Faced with a decision on which one or more of eight department requests to fund out of general fund revenues, the City Council instead elected to put money into an account proposed by the Mayor’s Office.

At a special budget meeting on Dec.2 to provide what Finance Director Cindy Niemeier said was “guidance and direction” on the final parts of the 2020 budget, the council agreed to take the safe route and not spend money on law enforcement, fire and municipal court positions. Instead, they elected to take $100,000 of $263,000 in leftover revenues from the levy lid lift and put it away to begin building a down payment on another replacement fire truck — similar to what they did beginning in 2017 for the new main attack engine that went into service in September. Voters approved the lid lift in 2015 to fund public safety only, and that money now accounts for 23 percent of general fund revenue. Lid lift revenue is projected at $501,000 in 2020.

The levy is currently paying for several police officers and some fire and police equipment purchases. Hiring another patrol officer and a detective were proposed by Police Chief John Hensley in 2020, along with another dispatcher, with Fire Chief Tom Jenkins requesting hiring another firefighter and Municipal Court Administrator Terri Cooper looking for a part-time court administrative employee.

Also proposed were covering overtime increases in the fire department totaling $160,000 and in the police department of $71,000. All told, the unfunded requests amounted to $680,400, with the $100,000 going towards a new ladder truck added.

Councilman Paul Schmidt agreed with the fire truck down payment proposal, as did Councilman John Taves.

“I don’t see how we can afford the other stuff,” Taves added. “I don’t know where the dollars are.”

Besides the unused levy lift amount, the council also had at its disposal $145,475 in cash carryover funding unused in the general fund and $16,000 in additional unallocated general fund money. Niemeier advised the council to be cautious about using these funds until the effects of the recently passed $30 car tab initiative were known, something Councilwoman Teresa Overhauser referenced in her support of the banked fire truck funding.

“I’d like to wait until mid-year to talk about additional bodies,” she said. “We could just turn around this same time next year and be laying people off.”

Overhauser said she was “sympathetic” to the need for more public safety personnel, but added the city was facing uncertainties with the initiative impacts along with ramifications from a pending tort claim against Cheney and Airway Heights’ municipal courts. The claim was filed over a dispute about Cooper’s qualifications to serve as court commission in both courts.

“We just have some things going on,” Overhauser added.

In a Dec. 3 email, Niemeier said the police and fire department overtime was currently budgeted for 2020 out of several different funds, including the general fund, and the fire EMS levy fund.

Council also approved an additional request of $60,000 in funding to be used for code enforcement in the city, something City Council, planning commission members and citizens has said needs improving. The city is also budgeting to use the $600,000 in the parks capital projects fund on improvements such as new playground equipment, pool renovations and restroom repairs.

“We haven’t had one capital project in the parks in many years,” Mayor Chris Grover said.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.

Author Bio

John McCallum, Retired editor

John McCallum is an award-winning journalist who retired from Cheney Free Press after more than 20 years. He received 10 Washington Newspaper Publisher Association awards for journalism and photography, including first place awards for Best Investigative, Best News and back-to-back awards in Best Breaking News categories.

 

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