Langley council OKs 2012 budget

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

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.