Moses Lake residents asked to weigh in on financial priorities

MOSES LAKE — With the Moses Lake City Council working on a financial plan that will require what council member Jeremy Davis said will be hard decisions, city officials want to hear which services residents think are the most important.  

City Manager Rob Karlinsey laid out a timeline for the “financial sustainability” process, starting with council members doing some prioritizing in February. Moses Lake residents will be asked for their opinions in March, with council members approving a plan in late April or early May.  

“Sounds neat and tidy, doesn’t it?” Karlinsey said. “This won’t be. Democracy is messy.” 

The city’s revenues in its general fund have fallen short of expenses for the last two years, and council members opted to use reserves to make up the difference. The general fund pays for a lot of city services, like the Moses Lake Police Department, Moses Lake Fire Department and parks and recreation.  

The financial projection presented to council members Tuesday showed the gap between revenue and expenses will continue to grow over the next five years unless the city reduces costs, finds more money, or both. Deciding what to do is the goal of the financial sustainability process.  

While the timeline may be subject to change, Karlinsey said the priorities should be established by early summer, so city officials can use them during the 2027 budget process. Moses Lake residents will get a chance to look at the details, review their conclusions and make their opinions known starting in March. 

City officials will add a designated page on financial sustainability planning to the city’s website, Karlinsey said. That should be accessible late this week or early next week. 

Residents will have the chance to look at a lot of the details, then decide how they would solve the city’s shortfall with their own budget proposal. The “Balancing Act” website will be available during March.  

“Members of the public can look at the revenues and expenditures and the gap, and then they can submit their own budget,” Karlinsey said. “They may want to increase this revenue, or they may want to decrease that program, or they might want to increase the program. It gives them the tools to submit their own budget.” 

Karlinsey used the Balancing Act project in his last job, and said a few hundred people experimented with it. About 70 people actually submitted budgets. 

“Is it statistically valid? No,” he said. “But it still kind of gives you a sense of what people are thinking.”  

Along with that, city officials will conduct a statistically valid survey, he said.  

Moses Lake residents will be invited to a workshop March 16 to discuss the options available to the city and will be asked for their opinions on how to solve them, Karlinsey said.