Soap Lake fixes budget

Struggle comes to an end

SOAP LAKE — Soap Lake adjusted inequalities in the 2006 budget.

"When the 2006 budget was put together there was nothing in the previous year to follow … because of the transition of city staff," Mayor Wayne Hovde said.

Soap Lake had trouble in the past putting their budget together and getting it in on time due to lack of leadership, he said at a previous meeting. This year the budget was dumped on the city clerk and other city staff to put together, but it is now under control, he added.

"The (dollar amount) of the budget was too low to begin with … to meet reality," City Attorney Jim Whitaker said.

Several budget items were underestimated because there was no history from previous years to provide an example of what each fund should be, Hovde said.

To correct the problem, money was transferred from each fund reserve to the appropriate item within each fund, Finance Officer Alta Paulsson said.

More than $150,000 was pulled from reserves to cover expenditures either under-budgeted or not budgeted at all.

"We were operating with some very rare and ancient pieces of equipment," Hovde said.

The city was in need of new trucks and construction equipment costing $38,000. To cover the cost of the additional police officer training and the salary of the police chief, $27,000 was expended. Remodeling the police department cost an additional $5,000. The interim police chief cost $16,100 to cover salary, room and board.

Several funds were also moved around within the budget to reflect the correct line item.

Councilmember Barney Berg said people can expect the 2007 budget to be in order because there will be an appropriate example to follow. Additional revenues are also expected, he added.

The initial 2006 budget was nearly $3.3 million. Approximately $385,000 was adjusted Wednesday.