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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE City of Kenmore Communications
September 8, 2020 communications@kemorewa.gov
425-398-8900
Kenmore’s Financial Sustainability Plan Task Force will present recommendations to City Council to balance Kenmore’s budget
for the next six years
Kenmore, WA – At the end of August, Kenmore’s Financial Sustainability Plan Task Force completed months of work of considering data and public input to develop a plan to balance the City of Kenmore’s budget for the next six years. The Task Force’s recommendations will be presented to the Kenmore City Council on September 10, 2020 at 5:30 p.m. via the Zoom online platform.
Key recommendations include adding revenue sources, reducing expenses, and rebalancing the budget to better reflect Kenmore’s priorities. The Task Force recommends generating revenue primarily through traffic photo enforcement to help fund transportation safety and street pavement preservation, along with tax revenue. Revenue enhancements would be phased in over several years, the first of which would not begin until mid-2022.
Among the recommendations for reducing expenses are continuing many of the cuts in operational expenses made this year and reducing the City’s responsibility to fund a School Resource Officer. The Task Force also recommends increasing the budget for mental health resources and street pavement preservation.
In late 2019, the Kenmore City Council approved a process for creating a Financial Sustainability Plan and a charter for a task force of seven community members to assist in solving a forecasted $2 million per year structural deficit by 2026. Although the City of Kenmore has a record of adopting balanced budgets, the pre-pandemic forecast showed operating expenditures exceeding operating revenues as soon as 2022. This problem has been further exacerbated by decreased revenues and budget shortfalls caused by the pandemic.
The City’s construction projects (also referred to as "capital projects") are funded separately and independently of the City’s operating budget. Capital projects are paid for with one-time capital revenues such as grants, voter-approved bonds, and impact fees from new construction. The City’s general operating fund (police, parks maintenance, etc.) does not have access to these capital revenues and is funded from separate revenues such as property tax and sales tax.
The Task Force, city staff and consultant Management Partners have been working together to review the issues, determine the problems and advise on future steps. Following the City Council’s review of Task Force recommendations, the six-year Financial Sustainability Plan will provide guidance for the City’s biennial budgets. The 2021-2022 biennial budget planning process is currently underway and there will be opportunities for public input this fall.
Throughout the Financial Sustainability Plan process, public input was gathered through surveys, emails, and comments at Task Force meetings. Additionally, the City of Kenmore deployed an online interactive tool known as “Balancing Act” to get hands-on input on how to balance the City’s budget. Over 200 people submitted feedback through the Balancing Act tool.
To view the Task Force recommendations and a summary of the Balancing Act results, as well as additional information on the Financial Sustainability Plan and Task Force, visit www.kenmorewa.gov/FSP.
The September 10th City Council Budget Retreat agenda is available on the City’s website.
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