A slight increase in residents’ property tax and cutting some city jobs are among budget-balancing measures that were announced today by the City of Redmond.
PROPERTY TAXES
At the Dec. 1 meeting of the Redmond City Council, “the City Council confirmed the one percent increase in the total property tax amount as provided for in the 2009-10 budget adopted last year,” explained Mike Bailey, finance director for the City of Redmond.
“According to the King County Assessor, the average property values in Redmond decreased 8.4 percent for 2010 taxes. … With the declining property values and the slight increase in tax amounts, the actual levy rate for the City of Redmond will increase from $1.33 to $1.46 (per $1,000 of assessed property value),” said Bailey.
“If individual properties experienced the average 8.4 percent decrease in the value of their property, the net result would be a one percent increase in the total taxes paid to the city, about $7.17 annually for the average home,” Bailey noted. “In many cases, individual property values changed either more or less than the average and their total taxes paid to the City of Redmond would be affected by that relevant difference. Property tax provides 20 percent of the total General Fund of the city, as well as the dedicated levies for public safety and parks maintenance approved by the citizens of Redmond in 2007. The City’s General Fund supports the basic public safety services, street maintenance, parks and recreation and other core city services.”
Bailey noted that the city adopts a two-year budget, so City Council had estimates relating to an increase of one percent for both the 2009 and 2010 in that two-year budget.
“The action last night was the actual setting of the 2010 taxes, required to be done each year regardless of our two-year budget cycle,” said Bailey.
Redmond City Council President Nancy McCormick stated that last night’s vote was 4-3 with Councilmembers Kim Allen, David Carson and Pat Vache voting against the increase, “all citing the current economy and the effects on individuals.”
McCormick added, “While I agree with them, the timing is not good given the situation many find themselves in, that one percent increase amounts to $13 per year for the average home’s assessed valuation in Redmond.”
McCormick also commented, “Through specific budget reductions, holding the line on expenditures and the one percent property tax increase provided for in the 2009/2010 budget, we are confident we can continue to honor our service and program commitments to the city’s residents and businesses.”
JOB CUTS
This past spring, the City of Redmond eliminated several temporary positions funded by Microsoft Corp. when Microsoft discontinued its Redmond construction projects and exercised its option to terminate the funding agreement with the city. Summer layoffs accounted for 17 positions.
This fall, the city has made the difficult decision to cut 4.5 more positions, according to Jane Christenson, assistant to Mayor John Marchione, who was on business in Olympia today.
The layoffs have included personnel in planning, construction inspection, public works and fire inspection areas.
As a rule of thumb, the city is saving about $100,000 per position, when considering salary and benefits, said Christenson. In some cases, the layoffs involved contract workers who were not entitled to severance packages. For the most recent layoffs, the workers were entitled to 30 days of severance pay in accordance with union agreements.
Presently, there is no plan to rehire any of the laid-off employees, without knowing what turn the economy might take, said Christenson.
“When it comes to development activity, we were down for 2009 and anticipate continued, diminished activity for 2010,” she explained.
Marchione commented in a press release, “Just as we did this past summer, the city continues to right-size its operation for the current economic conditions. While reducing positions is always done with very deliberate thought, we committed to this balanced approach to our finances during our 2008 budget deliberations.”
NEXT STEPS
The City of Redmond will begin planning for the 2011/2012 budget biennium next year. As in 2008, residents and businesses will continue to play a role in confirming the city’s budget and service priorities, said a press release. For more information, contact the Mayor’s office at (425) 556-2101 or mayor@redmond.gov.
