Waitsburg Approves Scaled-Back Budget

WAITSBURG – Following a second public hearing and two workshop sessions, the Waitsburg City Council approved the city’s 2016 final budget at the Dec. 17 meeting. The 2016 budget of $1.75 million shaved more than $1 million off of last year’s $2.8 million budget.

Waitsburg City Administrator Randy Hinchliffe said the drop in expenditures is mostly because there are no large capital projects slated for 2016.

“We’ll replace a few small sections of water line, some storm line, some sidewalks, and just a lot of little projects,” Hinchliffe said. “It’s nothing like replacing the Main Street water line this year that was a couple hundred thousand (dollars) and we don’t have a 150th anniversary to deal with this year.”

Budget accomplishments for 2015 included the installation of 1,500 feet of sidewalk through the city’s new sidewalk repair program, replacing 2,000 feet of undersized, leaking water line, the installation of three life-size public art pieces, securing funding for replacement of the Main Street Bridge, and completing a modeling study of the city’s water system.

Goals for 2016 include continued street and sidewalk repairs and ADA access, recoating the city pool, improvement of the fairgrounds facility to include a little league complex and dry camping site, repair of a leaking waterline under the Touchet River Bridge, library improvements, and replacement of the city’s outdated financial computer system software.

Hinchliffe said he intends to solicit college students to design plans to install automatic sprinklers in the cemetery, which would cut down greatly on staff hours.

Before addressing the budget, the council approved budget-related amendments to the city’s personnel manual, which had become a sticking point. After two separate workshops addressing employee compensation, the council reached an agreement.

Personnel manual changes include basing city employee salaries on a percentage of the Association of Washington Cities averages and the addition of longevity benefits of two percent for every five years of employment. The city also lowered the current six-month probationary period before benefits kick in to 30 days, with favorable review, and swapped the city’s dollar cap on insurance premium payments for an 80/20 split with employees.

In his budget preface, Mayor Walt Gobel explains that the 2016 scaled-back budget is in preparation for larger projects anticipated in 2017.

“As with every year, the 2016 budget is designed to achieve a fundamental goal: to provide the level of service the community expects while operating in a fiscally responsible manner, and balancing revenues generated against controlled expenditures. With this budget, the City can move cautiously but confidently into the coming year,” Gobel said.