City to tap cash reserve

After voters defeated a tax levy increase, the City of Sisters will again have to tap its cash carry-forward "savings account" in the next fiscal year.

Current general fund revenues are expected to be $568,605. The city has budgeted to spend about $603,072 from the general fund. As a result, the carry-forward will drop about $34,467, from $333,810 to $299,343, barring any unforeseen contingencies.

"The decision by the budget committee (not to make further cuts) was based on the belief that even though the voters did not approve a property tax increase of $67,000, we had cut expenses. We wanted to go one more year and show the voters this new lean budget before we made even more cuts," said Sisters Mayor Steve Wilson.

The budget will be adopted on June 26 by the Sisters City Council and go into effect on July 1.

The general fund is that portion of government funded primarily through taxes. It does not include "revenue funds" such as water, garbage, streets, grants and bonded indebtedness which have their own sources of income.

The most visible of the cuts will be a decrease in the police department, which makes up about 41 percent of the city's general fund budget. The police budget will be cut from $340,903 this year to $249,378 next year, more than $90,000 or 27 percent.

Next year's outlay for police will even be $66,676 or 21 percent less than was actually spent in 1995-96, according to the city budget document.

The city has recently cut its police department from six officers to four, plus a dispatcher/secretary. The current budget does include a pay increase of 3 percent, matching an anticipated jump in the cost of living.

The Sisters Organization for Activities and Recreation (SOAR) program for Sisters youth, which in past years has received $5,000, has also been eliminated from the city budget. It may be restored.

"My firm conviction is that $5,000 will be replaced by the council prior to final adoption of the budget. The community commitment level is too high for SOAR for the city not to continue to show our support for that program," said Mayor Wilson.

The budget committee did approve $5,000 to repaint the library, $5,000 to repair the roof at the city rental house adjacent to the fire hall, and $21,000 for parks, which includes $5,000 for repair of the septic system at the Village Green, $5,000 to repair the irrigation system at the Sisters City Park along Squaw Creek at the east end of town and $11,000 for a new mower.

Wilson said he was going to challenge Kiwanis and Rotary to participate in painting the library, but added "I will paint that library single-handed before SOAR goes unfunded."

The city also put aside $10,000 for a new police car, $5,000 for new police radios (to match a county-wide shift to new frequencies) and $12,000 for its portion of a sewer study which also received Forest Service and Deschutes County funds.

Budgeted current tax revenues are actually forecast to decrease by nearly 10 percent or $25,000 due to the impact of Measure 47/50. This has been offset by a recent increase in the transient room tax (up $15,000 to $100,000) and business license fees (up $13,000 to $30,000).

In the special city hall remodel fund (not part of the general fund), the budget shows a sale of the current city hall for $250,000 and sale of the city-owned bowling alley for $300,000. These revenues, combined with about $177,000 from earlier fund transfers and $10,000 in interest income, are listed as being spent on a $737,000 remodel of city hall.

Mayor Wilson explained that this was simply an effort to determine how much the city had in assets for a city hall. He said that over the years, different city councils had given mixed signals to city staff. One plan was to sell the current city hall to remodel the bowling alley, another was to sell the bowling alley to remodel the current city hall.

"My goal is by the first meeting in July to have a direction for the city so this issue that has been unresolved for three or four years can be put to rest," Wilson said.