Dec 5, 2014 3 min read

A disagreement over an increase to Washington’s solid waste fund line item, among other issues, prompted the mayor to block passage of the 2015 budget Thursday night, which will bring the debate over the city’s spending plan down to the wire.

“I have not had enough time to be given the information that I’m requesting, and solid waste is one of the line items,” Mayor Brenda Davis said. “If I’m not comfortable with the numbers in the budget because they have not been explained thoroughly, then I can’t support it.”

Davis and Councilwoman Tracie Graham voted against the $12.85 million budget, which will force the city to hold another meeting before the end of the month to pass the spending plan. Councilmen Joe Manning and Terry Faust voted for the budget, while the potential tie-breaking vote, Councilman Ken Westcott, did not attend the meeting.

With no budget passed, council also was forced to delay setting a property tax rate for next year, which was expected to remain the same as 2014.

Manning, whose department’s budget was at the heart of the questions, said auditors suggested reconfiguring the line items, which prompted a $75,000 increase in the solid waste budget and a subsequent higher fund transfer request than originally was expected. The solid waste line item involves administrative costs related to collection of garbage and recyclables in the city. A motion to transfer $175,000 into that fund before the end of the year – about $25,000 more than expected – also was voted down.

“There may be a little room to move these numbers around, but when you get down to it, a $150,000 (fund transfer) wasn’t going to touch it, so we put in $175,000, and that still might not even (cover) it,” Manning said. “There’s only so many times you can revisit something.”

But Davis and Graham said they received the final draft of the budget just before the meeting and didn’t have time to thoroughly review it. In addition to the solid waste line item, Davis questioned the anticipated payment of $97,000 to contracted employee Lynn Galluze next year. Her contract, signed last November, states that Galluze, the city’s computer systems coordinator, will be paid no less than $72,000 per year , and as much as $20,000 more for “miscellaneous duties.” Davis complained about a $5,000 gap between the two numbers.

Manning said Galluze’s additional payments are in line with previous years and compared the situation to city Solicitor Jack Cambest, who was supposed to be paid $40,000 this year, but that figure nearly doubled due to additional caseloads. Davis said the city should stick to the contract and not assign Galluze more work that puts her above the contracted payment.

Faust said after the meeting that every council member typically has minor complaints about spending in each department, but that was no reason to hold up the entire budget.

The stalemate on the budget, which increases spending over last year by about $35,000 with no tax increase, means city officials will have to hold a special meeting before Dec. 31 to debate and pass the spending plan, although no date has been set.