Blaine City Council approved a budget amendment at its May 26 council meeting that forecasts an $880,000 reduction in revenue due to the new coronavirus pandemic, stay-home order and border closure.
Forecasting an 11 percent decrease in annual general fund revenues ($805,000) and a 30 percent decrease in annual lodging tax revenue ($75,000), the city has made operational changes to reduce costs.
To lower lodging tax expenditures, the city is canceling event grants, defunding a less than half-time position that staffed the Welcome Center, and has proposed cutting $10,000 from a fund for special events.
The city has so far identified $220,000 in cuts to the general fund, including cuts to salaries and benefits, supplies, professional services, training, repair and maintenance, and capital, according to a memo on the budget amendment from the finance department.
Many city employees have already taken one-week voluntary furloughs.
“I’ve had a few employees (Teamsters and others) tell me that they are glad to be able to help out in this difficult time, and are pleased that we are taking steps that might avoid layoffs. It is heartening to see our city team coming together like this,” said city manager Michael Jones in a letter to council about negotiating furloughs with the Teamsters union.
Jones had already authorized about 39 weeks of furloughs, and 10 more were pending, he told city council. “That’s about one FTE (full-time equivalent), so it’s like losing an entire person, one week at a time, and that is noticeable,” he said.
Public works employees, the largest single group of employees at the city, have taken the majority of furloughs but the furloughs have included other departments as well: during the meeting, finance director Jeffrey Lazenby (not related to this reporter) mentioned preparing the budget amendment after a week-long furlough.
The union representing uniformed police officers rejected the city’s proposal for furloughs, but officers would be willing to revisit the issue later, said Blaine Police Department public information officer Michael Munden.
In the amendment, city council also approved several additional general fund expenditures, including $20,000 for recruiting a public works director and assistant director, and an $86,720 transfer from the general fund to a medical fund for law enforcement and fire fighter retirement benefits. A former city employee who falls under pension system is currently in long-term care, and the city is legally mandated to pay those above-budget medical costs, according to meeting documents.
With the reductions and additions to the budget, the council approved a $113,000 reduction to the general fund from the adopted budget. Council member Eric Davidson said this would likely be one of many upcoming discussions on the general fund.
“I just want to say that $113,000 is a small part of many discussions we’re going to have on that,” he said. “I don’t want to be a pessimist but I want to be prepared for whatever scenarios come forward.”
Lazenby agreed, calling this “phase 1 of our budget modifications.”
Correction: The original version of this article incorrectly stated that the Blaine Police Department said it would not participate in furloughs. Civilian employees and the chief of police are participating in the furloughs, said police department PIO Michael Munden. Uniformed officers are not participating in furloughs but may revisit the issue.
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