SPOKANE, Wash. — During Monday's legislative meeting, Spokane City Council voted to approve a $1.2 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2024.
Council members approved the ordinance unanimously.
“Together with the Administration, we have finally agreed on sustainable solutions that we’ve been asking for since 2021,” said Finance Chair Betsy Wilkerson said. “While we narrowly avoided a fiscal cliff for 2024, it is important to be more stringent with our reserves and expenditures as we forecast for 2025. When servicing our community, we must always be fiscally responsible and safeguard our constituents from radical financial strains.”
According to the city, council agreed to disband the three-person budget committee so that all council members could have unfiltered access to the mayor's cabinet to allow for difficult decisions about the budget to be addressed.
“This budget is a product of a multitude of obstacles; however, it also shows progress in our joint administration/council budget process,” said Council Member Michael Cathcart. “This is what gives me optimism moving forward. I am committed as ever to enhancing our approach by further implementing reforms that, among other things - force the adoption of a sustainable budget that balances long-term, expands the Council’s process to be more data-driven, and equips the community with effective tools for genuine, real-time public involvement in setting budget priorities. These enhancements are pivotal for safeguarding key priorities, fostering transparency, and guaranteeing effective delivery of service.”
Mayor Nadine Woodward issued the following statement after city council's unanimous decision:
“This has been a really collaborative process with the City Council. We worked more closely than ever with the Council. Our collaboration dates back to hosting a series of budget town halls in each of the districts last spring, continued this summer with regular meetings between the respective budget committees, and finally the weeks of public discussion with the full Council this fall. The final product invests in maintaining services for our community and in the people who deliver those services to neighborhoods. The Council has been side-by-side with the Administration in finalizing labor contracts, working to control public safety overtime, and finding funding solutions. The combination of efficiencies we’ve gained, updating of fee schedules, expanding the use of special-purpose funds, and strategically using bridge strategies is a significant step forward and through the economic downturn.”
DOWNLOAD THE KREM SMARTPHONE APP
DOWNLOAD FOR IPHONE HERE | DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID HERE
HOW TO ADD THE KREM+ APP TO YOUR STREAMING DEVICE
ROKU: add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching for KREM in the Channel Store.
Fire TV: search for "KREM" to find the free app to add to your account. Another option for Fire TV is to have the app delivered directly to your Fire TV through Amazon.
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email webspokane@krem.com.
