Tough Budget Year for City Governments

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Story Published: Oct 20, 2009 at 5:53 PM PST

By Lena Vargas

TRI-CITIES---Tough times call for hard choices by local city governments.

For the City of Kennewick that could mean reported layoffs.

The City of Richland and the City of Pasco say they will not lay anyone off. But for Pasco, lower sales tax revenue means the city will not hire two police officers or another code enforcement officer.

City Manager, Gary Crutchfield says it also means, the City of Pasco will tap into its "rainy day fund" for the first time in years, using up one fourth of it.

"It's the first time I've done that in eight years. It’s not fun, but it's a good reason to have a reserve so you don't have to lay people off or reduce services. You can use that rainy day fund to keep everything in place and weather the storm so to speak,” said Crutchfield.

In Richland, lower revenues mean less service at the city's building permit office. Contractors hired to fill-in as building inspectors in recent months will not be replaced.

Also, almost a million dollars worth of road re-surfacing will have to wait, along with a new fire station off of Queensgate. The city will fund a new fire station in North Richland in it’s 2010 budget.

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