Langley council OKs 2012 budget

The Langley City Council unanimously approved its 2012 budget at its meeting Monday.

Next year’s operating budget totals $5.5 million. The general fund, the pot of money that pays for basic government services such as police, parks, finance and other essentials, is $1.4 million.

The street fund totals $1.3 million; the water fund is $636,809; the sewer fund, $479,934; and the stormwater fund, $209,083.

Capital projects in next year’s spending plan include the first phase of the reconstruction of Second Street, an extensive upgrade to the CMA parking lot to make it into a part-time park-and-ride lot, and new paving on Cascade, Camano and Sixth streets.

Next year’s budget includes a 1 percent increase in property taxes, which was unanimously approved by the council at an earlier meeting.

The approval of the budget followed a vote at the first council meeting in December, where the council voted 5-0 against the adoption of the 2012 budget so council members would have time to further consider where city employees would be placed on a new compensation scale for city workers. Council members flirted with the idea of holding a closed-door executive session to talk about employee salaries, but backed away from the notion last week.

Council members voted 5-0 to also approve proposed salaries for city employees Monday.

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