Town Council begins 2024 budget with public works

Money talks.

But last week it was Town officials who did the talking – about money, it turns out.

Town Council members kicked off the 2024 budget season with a special 5 p.m. Sept. 26 hybrid meeting at Maple Hall.

Public works director Brian Lease and Fire Chief/Code Enforcement Officer Aaron Reinstra presented their budgets.

Council is addressing two rare anticipated line-item shortfalls: the streets and facilities funds.

Delaying purchase of additional speed cushions like those in use on Talbott and Center streets could reduce the streets budget.

That could be a hard decision.

“Everywhere in town,” said Lease, who along with finance director Maria DeGoede said that the streets fund has been a struggle for some time, “we get requests for the speed cushions.”

“I’ve heard that the ones on Talbott Street have been very effective,” added Councilmember Mary Wohleb.

Council this fall will explore the possibility of adopting a one-tenth of one per cent sales tax increase to fund a transportation improvement district.

A transportation benefit tax would raise between $45,000 and $60,000, Lease said.

“Forty thousand dollars,” he said, “would be a huge help.”

La Conner’s population growth and popularity as a tourist destination add significant wear and tear to the streets, Wohleb pointed out.

Several long-range, big ticket budget items will be topics of lengthy conversations this fall, including acquisition of a fire boat, upgrading the aging Skagit Beach water main, replacing the Sherman Street boat launch and continued fiscal planning for state-mandated improvements at the half-century-old wastewater treatment plant.

“We’re working on funding for the fire boat,” said DeGoede, who praised the budgets Reinstra presented.

“He’s done really well in my opinion,” she said.

The Skagit Beach water line serves about 100 homes and has required numerous repairs. Lease said the Town will likely “require grants or loan opportunities” to undertake the necessary work.

Town Administrator Scott Thomas estimated the project could run north of $3 million. He agreed that help will be needed and said a local improvement district (LID), in which property owners pay to help cover the cost of a project from which they directly benefit, could be an option.

Similarly, council discussed prospects for an LID bounded by Whatcom Street and Maple Avenue and Laurel to Washington streets to tackle stormwater runoff from the hill to the south and west.

“It’s an aging drainage system,” Thomas said, “and an upgrade would benefit a lot of residents on the east side of the hill.”

The draft budget projects a 2024 ending fund balance of nearly $4.5 million. The fund balance was 5.7 million at the end of 2022.