As Tacoma grapples to deal with huge budget gaps in the coming years, the City Council generally favors reducing or maintaining some level of resources to existing city programs, but shies away from eliminating or increasing current allocations to most major services.
As Tacoma grapples to deal with huge budget gaps in the coming years, the City Council generally favors reducing or maintaining some level of resources to existing city programs, but shies away from eliminating or increasing current allocations to most major services.
Or so says the general conclusions drawn from a survey taken by the council to help City Manager T.C. Broadnax formulate a 2013-14 general fund budget amid grim economic forecasts.
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Bucking a recent onslaught of grim budget news, Tacoma city officials announced Tuesday its past two-year budget fared $4.5 million better than expected, and its current spending plan so far is $3.7 million ahead of target.
Bucking a recent onslaught of grim finance news, Tacoma city officials found something encouraging to announce Tuesday, saying its past two-year budget fared $4.5 million better than expected, and its current spending plan so far is $3.7 million ahead of target.
Tacoma's City Council unanimously dropped the pay ceiling for most city workers about 10 notches Tuesday – from a standard that paid them better than about 70 percent of employees doing similar work to one that’s now above 60 percent of the market.
As we all know, Tacoma is evaluating its budget in the face of a huge hole. The city’s budget conversation should be a community discussion about preparing our city government for today’s new economy; prioritization of essential services, such as police and fire; and ensuring a return on investment for programs and services that the city provides.
As we reported today, the Tacoma City Council this week approved a new “compensation philosophy” that drops the target pay ceiling for city employees.
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