How Do You Solve a Budget Gap? Check the Sofa Cushions...

If you’re a budget hawk, yesterday’s study session was a moment you’ve been waiting for on pins and needles for several months. It was the moment when Tacoma’s City Manager T.C. Broadnax made the big reveal of the budget plan he and staff have been working on since he got here.

And the answer to the $11,800,000 question, “what are you going to do about the budget gap for the current biennium?” The answer is, we had it all along.

Okay, maybe not exactly. After some painful budget cutting, tough revenue raising choices, and a nail-biting wait for a pair of public safety grants, we were still left with a gap of about $6.6 million. The City brought in about $1.64 million in one-time unanticipated revenues, further narrowing the gap.

To close that last $4.96 million, Broadnax looked to internal funds with excess reserves. These are funds that get money paid into them, and when not all of it gets spent, it stays in the fund. The two Broadnax is focusing on this time around are “IT Radio” and “3rd Party Liability.” These funds contain more than the recommended reserve amount, and a part of that surplus, Broadnax says, can be used to plug the current biennium budget hole. Conversations about how to deal with such surpluses going forward will follow.

So, that’s the staff recommendation for addressing the 2011-2012 biennium budget gap. Council can expect to see a resolution adopting the recommended transfers and other budget strategies on the agenda next week. We’ll hear another quarterly budget update in October, and a final reckoning for this biennium in December. Now all we have to worry about is the 2013-2014 budget…

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