City of Bellingham ‘ended up bringing in more than we spent’ in 2020, so here’s what it did
Bellingham is canceling the unpaid furloughs planned for most city employees because revenues have fared better than expected during 2020, despite the new coronavirus pandemic.
That good piece of economic news came Monday afternoon, March 8, during a City Council committee meeting to outline the city’s current finances.
“(Furloughs) made a huge difference and we know it wasn’t easy,” said Councilwoman Pinky Vargas.
Finance Director Andy Asbjornsen said that revenue shortfalls in areas such as fines and fees were more than offset by interest savings, federal stimulus funds and a rise in sales tax revenue.
“Through the economic downturn, it’s really amazing how we ended the year,” Asbjornsen told the council.
Further, more than $7 million was saved through cuts in every department in late spring as economic uncertainty loomed amid fears of a widening pandemic.
“All the departments did a great job saving money this year,” Asbjornsen said.
And Bellingham set a conservative budget for 2021-2022, said Forrest Longman, deputy finance director.
“We realized that our revenues were short, departments tightened their belts, and we ended up bringing in more than we spent out,” Longman told the council.
“Given the situation, this may have not been the wrong approach, but it does require that we now adjust the forecast,” he said.
Among the cuts in the 2021 budget were 12 furlough days for most employees — three days of unpaid leave per quarter.
But the approximately 675 employees affected by furloughs won’t have to take nine of those days, Longman said.
Exempted from furloughs were police officers, firefighters, Municipal Court staff, dispatchers, Public Works plant operations staff, prosecutors, and payroll staff in the Human Resources Department.
Sales taxes and business-and-occupation taxes were higher than forecast, Longman said.
And no spending of reserve funds was required, he said.
“December was our largest sales tax month ever — again giving us optimism for 2021,” Longman said.
A $2 million general fund surplus is in the forecast for 2021, mostly because of a citywide hiring freeze, along with a $500,000 deficit in 2022.
