City adopts $28 million preliminary budget

SANDPOINT — The City Council adopted a preliminary budget of almost $28 million at its regular meeting Wednesday.

While the budget only serves as a temporary framework with items like grant income and project funding still unknown, it serves as the primary budget foundation for future planning sessions. Council members will workout unresolved issues as budget workshops continue over the next couple months. The final budget will be authorized a shortly after a public hearing scheduled for Aug. 21.

According to city treasurer Shannon Syth, the budgeting process this year should be less painful than the one last year. At the time, city officials faced a budget shortfall and had to cut six employees in addition to other cost-saving measures. That shouldn’t be the case this time around, she said.

“The efforts we made last year will help us live within our budget this year,” Syth added.

This year’s budget also has room for employee considerations, Syth continued. City personnel will be receiving a cost-of-living increase to their paychecks, something that hasn’t been possible in five years. Health care changes with the imminent expansion of the Affordable Care Act in 2014 are also covered as thoroughly as possible, Syth added.

Council members only made a few minor housekeeping changes to the preliminary budget before passing it. They moved a $19,000 sidewalk project for Pine Street Park from the general fund to the parks improvement fund. Another $19,000 was moved from general fund capital projects to the contingency fund.

They also bumped the beginning cash up to $50,000 for the Selkirk Interpretive Loop Center, a planned decorative rest area, welcome center, bike path and interpretive center near the southbound byway off-ramp.  The project is funded by a grant from the Federal Highway Administration but probably won’t be constructed this year, according to Syth.

The Bonner Business Center, a city-owned facility designed to kickstart promising entrepreneurial ideas, is also going to need a new HVAC system, according to city planner Jeremy Grimm. However, council members are hoping to save the $20,000 expense by requesting the amount from the Sandpoint Urban Renewal Agency. If Grimm is successful in pitching the proposal, that $20,000 will roll into the contingency fund, according to Syth.

Finally, Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper director Shannon Williamson dropped by the meeting to discuss the future of the organization’s partnership with the city in combating the invasive species infestation in the lake. Williamson said she and the Waterkeeper board hadn’t finalized their budget for the next fiscal year, but she confirmed they were interested in pursuing another year for the program. The milfoil treatment plan avoids using herbicides in favor of manual removal by diver dredging. In addition, the Idaho State Department of Agriculture is running a pilot program in Sandpoint using biodegradable bottom barriers — opaque surfaces that block invasive species from the sunlight they need to survive.

As a show of support for the invasive species program, council members decided to include a budget line item of $50,000 to pursue as a grant opportunity.