Wapato council clears lean budget

WAPATO — After eliminating park maintenance and street repairs, the City Council here last night approved a lean operating budget.

The cuts allow this city of roughly 4,540 residents to overcome a proposed $159,000 budget shortfall. That also means the city has little room for adjustments, said Mayor Jesse Farias.

“We’re going to be watching every expenditure very closely,” he said.

Like many Lower Valley cities, Wapato has seen expenditures drastically outpace revenue for the past several years.

A decline in state funds to small cities has also hurt Wapato. Nearly a decade ago, a measure leveling auto licensing fees to $30 a year caused the city to lose more than $350,000 in state funds.

With tough budget challenges the past several years, it’s not clear just how much carryover money the city will have to begin next year.

Usually cities need enough money to cover operations the first few months before revenues from property taxes begin hitting city coffers in early spring.

That amount wasn’t included in the city’s final budget packet, and City Clerk-Treasurer Sue Pearson said that information would have to come from the mayor.

When contacted about it, Farias said he couldn’t say off the top of his head what the city’s carryover was, but that it was “going to be tight.”

Revenue problems have mostly stripped youth activities from the city, where a gang shooting last month claimed the life of a 16-year-old boy.

This will be the fourth year all park recreation, the community center and the municipal swimming pool have been cut from the city budget.

Currently, the Yakama Nation is working to put a Boys and Girls Club into the community center.
Wapato is situated on the reservation.

In the past, the tribe has helped the city fund swimming-pool operations, but it’s not clear if that will happen next year. Farias wouldn’t comment about any discussions with the tribe about the swimming pool.

“It’s only December,” he said. “We won’t worry about the pool until spring time.”