Tacoma’s City Council – grappling with ways to reduce some 165 layoffs now facing the city — waded through eight options to raise new city revenues Tuesday, ultimately agreeing to put five ideas to a vote in coming weeks.
The agreed-upon ideas could raise about $1.3 million – potentially reducing by that amount cuts to city jobs and services now taking shape as part of a plan to close a projected budget shortfall of up to $31 million.
“When I look at these (revenue) numbers, I’m thinking in terms of police and fire jobs,” Mayor Marilyn Strickland said during the exercise Tuesday.
The ideas won’t come without pain. They include:
- Increasing red light camera ticket fines from $101 to $124 (to raise about $419,500).
- Increasing yearly business licenses fees from $80 to $90 ($220,000).
- Eliminating admission tax deductions on tickets to performances and other events hosted by nonprofit groups ($300,000).
- Establishing a half-price annual business fee, starting at $40, for businesses with gross revenues under $10,000 ($200,000).
- Increasing false alarm service fees from $60 to $100 ($156,000).
Each of the new revenue-raising options will be written into measures the council will formally consider in December.
Tuesday’s actions were the latest step in a grim city budget-slashing process trudging toward a Dec. 6 workshop, during which Interim City Manager Rey Arellano is expected to unveil a detailed plan to cut at least $23 million to the city’s $399 million 2011-12 general fund.
The city sent letters last week to city employee labor union representatives, notifying them that 165 employees are now at risk of losing their jobs in a first round of cuts alone. That includes nearly 100 city police and fire employees.
City officials will determine early next year if those cuts are enough – or if up to 81 more police and fire employees also must go.
Several council members stressed Tuesday that Arellano and his staff will need to give them far more details than raw layoff numbers.
“It seems like the media, everybody is focusing on layoffs,” said Councilman Spiro Manthou. “I need to know what the impacts to services really mean.”
Added Councilman Jake Fey: “It’s hard to make a decision without knowing the consequences.”
While agreeing Tuesday to formally consider the five revenue-generating ideas, council members said they want more time to examine three other options that staff estimate could bring in $3.2 million.
Those ideas include establishing a $20 city car tab fee to pay for some transportation programs; eliminating business and occupation tax reductions long provided to health-care nonprofits; and instituting a 1/10th of one percent sales tax to partially subsidize some mental health and chemical dependency programs.
A council committee previously dismissed two other revenue-generating options – eliminating the city’s B&O job credit and postponing city employee retirement contributions in 2012 — as unsound ideas.
Even if the council were to support all of the revenue options, Councilman Ryan Mello noted layoffs and other service cuts are likely inevitable.
“All of these revenue enhancements come up to a fraction of what we’re needing to cut,” Mello said. “A fraction.”
Also Tuesday, the council heard a briefing on the city’s $15.5 million devoted to outside nonprofit, government and community agencies – mostly for social services programs — to determine if other potential cuts might be available to off-set proposed layoffs.
Members directed staff to more closely examine potential “surgical cuts” to any programs that don’t include critical services or mandated contracts.
Saying he’s not yet convinced Arellano and his staff have exhausted all options before proposing job cuts, Mello added: “It seems to me that everyone needs to share the pain in these tough times.”
“It’s an all-hands-on-deck situation,” Strickland added.