Langley may need more budget cuts
July 16, 2010 · 4:55 PM
If revenue continues to lag, the city of Langley may be in for more cuts, Finance Director Debbie Mahler said Thursday.
She said the city’s Finance Committee will recommend to the city council that the council look for more ways to trim expenditures, perhaps including a further reduction in employee hours.
“That very well could happen,” Mahler said. “It’s a very tight budget.”
She also said the Finance Committee recommends borrowing up to $150,000 from the city’s reserve fund to bolster the anemic general fund, the largest portion of the city’s budget.
Such a loan would have to be repaid within three years, with interest, Mahler said.
This year’s general fund budget, primarily funded by sales-tax revenue, is $1,357,057, down from last year’s $1,438,114. The budget reflects reductions in employee hours adopted at the end of last year to compensate for dwindling revenues.
Mahler said most of the city’s financial woes can be pinned on the continuing sour economy, which has hit the city’s merchants hard.
Sales-tax revenues are running 44 percent of what’s budgeted for the year, Mahler said, compared to 51 percent for the same period last year.
The council will meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday, July 19, at city hall on Second Street.
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