Wenatchee approves $142 million 2023 budget

WENATCHEE — The city of Wenatchee approved a $142 million budget for 2023 at a special council meeting.

Council members on Nov. 17 had a public hearing before approving the general fund, the city's main operating fund — which includes $35.3 million of recurring expenses and $31.7 million in recurring revenues.

Officials said they weren't concerned about the $3.6 million gap.

"Our recurring expenses are barely more than our recurring revenues, but the budget is a conservative planning document, said Brad Posenjak, city finance director, in an interview. "We actually expect that our revenues to come in above budget and expect our expenses to come in under budget."

Expenses are required by law to be under-budgeted, said Posenjak, to prevent cities from exceeding their adopted budgets.

The finance committee budgets all the projects the city seeks to do, even though the city may not always get to start all of the projects that year.

"Probably all of these (projects) are not going to get done next year," he said. "It's one of those things we want to get done but doesn't always get done and gets rolled over the next year. So what will end up happening is that we will have more revenue than expenses even though our budget doesn't show that."

Both the total recurring revenues and total recurring expenses are budgeted to increase by 8%. Posenjak said that is a good thing because it shows that the revenues have been keeping up with the expenses.

He added many city governments have not been able to keep up with their expenses.

"In a year where inflation was 8%, it's nice that our revenues are coming in strong," he said.

Posenjak claims that most 2023 revenues are expected to return to growth rates at pre-pandemic levels.

"Our sales tax revenue is right back on track, if not doing better pre-pandemic. Even our lodging taxes are pretty much back on track," he said.

Recently, the city replaced a $20 car tab fee with a one-tenth percent sales tax on taxable goods, like clothing and services (up from 8.6% to 8.7%). This is set to begin January 2023.

The tax goes to street pavement preservation.

Posenjak said the average city resident will pay less for street preservation now and the city will have more revenue because non-residents traveling into the city will pay these one-tenth percent sales tax, too.

Recurring revenues are put into the general fund and divided into five sections to pay for city services.

The general fund provides goes to these services:

• Public safety: 45%
• Administration: 21%
• Streets and Public Works: 15%
• Recreation: 11%
• Community Development: 8%

In August, the city council approved a 5% increase in wages in most city departments as a response to inflation.

The police department has the largest portion of the general fund, with a budget of $10.5 million, which is a 7.3% increase from last year.

Another significant change in the general fund is the contract for the city attorney, increasing by 32.5%. Posenjak says there has been a higher demand for legal services from the city attorney in the past three years. The city contracts Davis Arneil Law Firm.

To see the 2023 Wenatchee city budget use the following link: bit.ly/3EztfmN.