Municipal budgeting is a difficult thing to track for most people. The City of Sumner has over 30 funds that operate like single businesses – the water utility, the sewer utility, animal control, etc. We have funds that are intended to drive operations today and funds that save money for tomorrow, like the Cemetery Endowment where everyone who purchases a space at the Cemetery pays into this endowment for us to fund upkeep of the cemetery long after you and I are here.
There are two distinct portions of the budget: capital and operating. Capital funds the big projects you see, either with our money or with grant money we receive. Operating funds the day-to-day work. Of the budget, 4% also covers debt. It is very, very rare for a city to carry that little debt, and we are very lucky.
Then, there are four main ways we get funding: grants, taxes, charges for service and various other sources. It’s not just about taxes. However, because grants and charges for services are generally restricted to what they are funding (projects, utilities), we talk about them less during the budget process. When funding is restricted, it can’t wander into other uses: for example, your water bill funds the infrastructure and operation to deliver you safe water. We can’t take money from the water utility to hire another police officer.
Forty-percent of the total budget is General Fund, and that’s where most people see City services including police, parks, planning and general operations. The General Fund’s main sources of revenue are property taxes and sales taxes. And it’s tight. Sales tax can be hard to predict with a shifting economy, and property tax is capped at 1%. If the Council takes the 1% increase, that means we can only collect another $52,000 on property taxes from everyone who pays a property tax bill, including residents, businesses and those large warehouses on the north end. That $52,000 may sound like a lot to you or me, but it doesn’t even cover the increases we’re seeing on our own power bills to fund the streetlights and heat the Senior Center. Our costs are definitely going up more than our revenue.
Here’s the bottom line with this budget: you have a staff who are the best team of people I’ve ever seen in my career. They work hard, they support each other, and they care about serving you well. Everything in this budget is needed to provide you with the services you expect and want from your city. There are things that got cut from the budget that would serve us all well too. We’re making tough choices to live within our means and still deliver. Please take a look at this budget and learn more about how we’re doing that. And, thank you for your interest and your funding. We know dollars are tight, and we’ll make sure we wisely use every dollar you entrust in our care.
Mayor Carla S. Bowman