Mayor Linda Redmon presented her proposed 2023-24 budget for the next biennium to the City Council
Mayor Redmon Presents Recommended Budget for 2023-24 Biennium
CONTACT: Shari Ireton, Director of Community Engagement & Strategic Initiatives
ireton@snohomishwa.gov, 425-512-1839
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 21, 2022
Snohomish, Wash. – On Tuesday night, Mayor Linda Redmon presented her proposed 2023-24 budget for the next biennium to the City Council. Based on an overarching theme of “Preserving and Strengthening Our Community,” she focused on investments in long-deferred maintenance of the City’s infrastructure, public safety, emergency preparedness, and modernization of City’s services.
“This budget clearly reflects a commitment to better serve our residents through appropriate staffing levels, modernization of tools and processes, right-sizing charges for services, and organizational improvement,” said Mayor Redmon in her budget address to Council. “This is a budget with a conservative revenue forecast and enough funding to support long overdue, deferred maintenance and projects.”
Specific budget items proposed to the Council include:
- Resources for addressing the community’s concerns about meeting needs for housing, mental health and addiction services, and other public safety issues that impact our police
- A down payment on the more than $50M in deferred maintenance and infrastructure projects, such as the North Sewer Trunk Line and a new long-term plan to replace the water system in the Avenues
- Sufficient staffing to perform necessary maintenance and meet increased permit requirements
- Comprehensive evaluation of traffic and pedestrian infrastructure, including funding for a sidewalk repair partnership program and planning for a 22nd Street and Terrace Avenue connector road.
- Beginning construction on the initial phases of the Averill Field playground and sports areas
- Funding for the required update to the City’s Comprehensive plan, including community engagement components
- Improving emergency preparedness and plans for response to and recovery from disasters
- Digitization and provision of online public access to City records and information
The 2023-2024 Biennial Budget is comprised of 21 funds with a total budgeted revenue of $62,599,337 and budgeted expenditures of $80,795,802. The City is projected to start the biennium with a beginning fund balance of $48,030,412 for all funds, which is more than $19M higher than was budgeted. This budget utilizes those unspent funds to invest more than 50 percent of the total budget on capital and infrastructure projects. Even with this large down payment, the projected fund balance at the end of 2024 of $29,833,947, well within requirements of the City’s financial management policies.
“A city’s budget demonstrates its priorities, and the team at the City has devoted thousands of hours to ensure that this budget reflects what the people of Snohomish care most about,” said Mayor Redmon.
In addition to the City of Snohomish Preliminary 2023-2024 Budget book and presentation materials, the City has also included a General Fund Budget Calculator for 2023-24 Proposed Budget as part of the participatory budget process. This downloadable Excel file provides community members with the opportunity to see what the impact of different decision packages and revenue sources has on the budget. By selecting “Yes” or “No” to each decision package item, as well as selecting a percentage for various revenue options, the calculator will show what the ending fund balance would be and what that does for future budget forecasts.
Learn more at https://snohomishwa.gov/budget.
# # #