Lakewood city budget gurus are resting easier after Tuesday’s election and say police funding should be in good shape. But they say they can’t rest completely because of smaller budget threats.
Returns from the Pierce County Auditor’s Office show that Lakewood voters soundly rejected a proposal to ban minicasinos. Proposition 1 was failing with a 62 percent “no” vote as of Friday night.
City staffers had estimated a loss of some $2.8 million in annual gambling tax revenue if voters closed the doors on Lakewood’s four minicasinos. That would have amounted to 7 percent of next year’s proposed $40 million operating budget.
They’re also relieved not to lose $300,000 they expect from red-light camera enforcement next year – revenue that was threatened by Tim Eyman’s Initiative 985. City officials never removed that money from next year’s budget, however, because they figured I-985 would have been appealed had it passed.
Under the minicasino ban, city officials were looking at a loss of 25 full-time positions, including 11 in the Police Department. Opponents of Proposition 1 pounced on the figure to sway voters to reject the ban.
City Manager Andrew Neiditz now says he doesn’t expect a reduction in police service, including Lakewood’s popular neighborhood policing program.
Last year the City Council restored funding to this program in response to heavy lobbying by neighborhood advocates. The 2008 budget had money to fund one armed police officer and one unarmed community service officer for each of six neighborhood districts.
The proposed 2009 budget doesn’t call for cuts in other city services, either.
But the city must still adjust its finances to cope with the slumping economy – a problem local governments across the nation are facing.
“We’re pleased we’re not going to lose that money,” Neiditz said about gambling tax revenue. “But we’re not out of the water yet.”
The Lakewood City Council will hold a budget workshop Wednesday. The council traditionally finalizes a budget late this month or early December.
Lakewood expects not to have between $250,000 and $750,000 that it was counting on just two months ago.
Much of the problem, Neiditz and other Lakewood budget officials say, stems from the struggling real estate and retail markets.
In the best-case scenario, Lakewood will fall $250,000 short in sales tax revenue. The city also is no longer counting on up to $500,000 in sales tax revenue the state originally projected Lakewood would net from Washington’s streamlined sales tax system.
The new system, designed to capture sales made over the Internet, steers tax revenue to cities where goods are delivered, rather than where the company selling the goods is located.
City Councilman Don Anderson also warned that the $2.8 million in projected gambling revenue isn’t guaranteed.
Gamblers, like everyone else, are living in lean economic times, he said.
“I don’t know if we can count on that level remaining the same in this budget climate,” Anderson said.
In the months leading up to Tuesday’s election, City Councilman Walter Neary suggested that Lakewood leaders should begin to wean themselves off gambling revenues.
Anderson said that’s a good idea, but it might not be practical this year.
“In theory, it’s something worth exploring,” he said. “But today on that front, it might not be possible.”
“Right now, I’d rather have police officers,” he added.
Brent Champaco: 253-597-8653
WHAT’S NEXT
What: City workshop for Lakewood’s 2009 budget
When: 7 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Lakewood City Hall, City Council Chambers, 6000 Main St. S.W.
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