Public safety cuts, city website updates, revenue strategies & more discussed at Thursday night’s Des Moines City Council Study Session

The Des Moines City Council held a study session on Thursday night, Oct. 3, 2024, to discuss the proposed 2025-2026 budget.

Due to inflation, the end of ARPA funding, and a tight cap on the city’s main revenue source, staff are planning for significant budget cuts and exploring potential new revenue sources. Finance Director Jeff Friend presented the budget plan to the council, highlighting the collaborative efforts of city staff and the challenges they faced due to understaffing. Full details of the budget presentation are available here.

City Website Updates

In response to requests from the public to clarify city finances, the Des Moines finance department webpage has been updated, with more changes to come shortly. There will be a new coloring system to more clearly denote the state of the fund balance at each step.

In addition to changes to the finance page, it was mentioned that a vendor will likely be hired next year to update the city website in general, as the community has requested.

As Finance Director Friend said, the new city manager will be on board starting November 1st, and will have a lot to say about the budget. She will be actively guiding the plan starting the first quarter of 2025.

New Strategies For Revenue

Potential new sources of revenue discussed include instituting a warehouse square footage tax, which is estimated to bring in $650,000 annually. This would tax certain developments owned by the Port which do not pay property taxes. Multiple neighboring cities successfully employ this tax. Another strategy would be to issue a tax on non-franchise prohibited utilities, which would bring in $88,500 in additional revenue.

Other revenue strategies include charging a public records request fee, to offset the costs of providing public records, which would return $20,000 to the budget. Finally, the business license fee would be increased, bringing in an additional $112,000.

Staff will also look at where else they can install speed or red light cameras, for issuing e-tickets. The Redondo speed cams are expected to bring in half a million dollars a year, so this is a significant arena for new revenue. However, the money has limited use, as it is restricted to projects that improve pedestrian safety.

Lowering Mandatory Reserve Discussed

Another tool the city could use to temporarily balance the budget is reducing the mandatory reserve fund, which stands at 16.6% of the annual budget, or two months expenses. In the past this reserve was allowed to be reduced to just 6%, in order to meet expenses. It is not part of the plan at the moment, but it is a tool that staff and the council could consider if necessary down the line.

Planned Cuts

Several cuts have already been made in 2024, including putting a freeze on filling two empty full time staff positions. In addition, it looks like the City Currents magazine will be cut entirely from the new budget. Paid advertising in the Currents only covers a fraction of the cost to the city, which spends $80,000 annually to print and mail the magazines. One more issue of the magazine is planned to be sent out later this year, and readers will be asked if they would be interested in paying a small subscription fee to receive some form of the printed updates from the city. Most community members have been very happy with Interim City Manager Tim George’s online weekly reports, but there are still some community members who have a strong preference for a physical copy of city magazine.

The Human Services budget will see large cuts. That fund has been temporarily bolstered by ARPA money that was meant to be short-term, and which will soon be used up. A new and much smaller source of funding for human services will come from opioid settlement funds. The Human Services Committee will come to a council meeting in the near future to discuss the needed shift in priorities as the fund is reduced.

Public Safety Cuts

With the end of ARPA funds, two uniformed police officers, as well as a crime analyst and human services officer positions will all be cut– unless the levy lid lift on November’s ballot is given voter approval. Police Chief Ted Boe mentioned other cuts that will be made in the public safety arena, including shuttering the Redondo substation, reducing officer time in that area, and eliminating the contract with Burien CARES. Councilmember JC Harris did mention that the Redondo substation was not even being used until a few years ago, and the police can make do without it again if it comes to that.

If all goes as planned, the above measures will shrink the deficit by a few million dollars over the next couple of years. However, it was pointed out that this comes at a cost to the community, as they will notice the reduction in services, including officers and animal control. If the levy lid lift is approved by voters in November, the public safety funds will increase, eliminating the cuts described above; the Redondo substation will remain open, more officers will be hired, and each officer will not be overworked.

Budget Town Hall

Staff hope to adopt the final version of the budget at the November 21st council meeting, with plans for several opportunities for public input before that date.

There will be a Budget Town Hall on Oct. 22 at the Beach Park Auditorium from 6 – 8 p.m. This is your opportunity to get information directly from the finance director and Council, have your questions answered, and voice your concerns.