Tumwater adopts 2023-2024 budget

Tumwater city council passed an ordinance adopting its 2023-2024 budget during a meeting held on Tuesday, December 6.

The new biennial budget totals $300,774,808, broken down into the following fund types:

• General Government Funds - $101,818,755 (33.85% of total budget)
  Proprietary Funds - $92,908,056 (30.89% of total budget)
  Capital Project Funds - $59,049,120 (19.63% of total budget)
  Special Revenue Funds - $32,633,696 (10.85% of total budget)
  Internal Service Funds - $13,884,322 (4.62% of total budget)
  Debt Service Fund - $480,859 (0.16% of total budget)

General government funds have the largest share, used to finance everyday activities necessary for local governance, such as fire protection, police enforcement, parks and recreation, and others.

Assets under proprietary funds are separated from general government funds as required by law and can only be used for the business associated with the fund. Proprietary funds include utility and golf funds.

Other major fund types include capital project funds used to finance projects under the capital facilities plan and special revenue funds, which can also be used for general government purposes.

Expenditures

The budget will be used to finance the city’s expenditures which total $217,499,380. As of this amount, $79,992,697 comes from the general fund, which is outlined as follows:

• Fire and Emergency Services - $20,047,776 (25.06%)
• Police - $18,975,157 (23.72%)
• Parks and Recreation - $10,714,679 (13.39%)
• Street - $6,038,515 (7.55%)
• Community Development - $5,037,385 (6.3%)
• Finance - $3,806,421 (4.76%)
• Non-Departmental - $3,309,140 (4.14%)
• Executive - $2,630,182 (3.29%)
• Administrative Services - $1,944,213 (2.43%)
• Transfers Out - $1,582,930 (1.98%)
• Violations Bureau - $1,557,064 (1.95%)
• Engineering - $1,529,936 (1.91%)
• Special Projects - $1,397,265 (1.75%)
• City Attorney - $1,105,107 (1.38%)
• Legislative - $316,927 (0.40%)

Fire, emergency, and police services remain the top sources of general fund expenses for Tumwater, similar to previous years. The cost for both services also increased compared to the previous biennial budget, with the expenditure for fire and emergency services amounting to $16,300,244 while police services were at $16,182,910.

Other significant expenditures include expenses for capital project funds at $54,485,087 and proprietary funds at $48,096,189.

Revenues

The allotted budget for each fund is computed based on the sum of the beginning balance and projected revenues of the fund.

Total revenues for the next two years are projected at $194,023,092, with $72,690,828 coming from general funds. The sources for the general fund revenues are broken down as follows:

• Property Tax - $18,600,000 (25.59%)
• Sales Tax - $17,458,500 (24.02%)
• Intergovernmental Contracts - $8,816,707 (12.13%)
• Business and Occupation Tax - $6,300,000 (8.67%)
• Utillity Tax - $5,895,000 (8.11%)
• Transfers In/Interfund - $4,301,221 (5.92%)
• Service Fees-Internal (Equipment Rental and Reserve Program, Golf) - $3,027,000 (4.16%)
• Development/Permits Fees - $2,140,000 (2.94%)
• Intergovernmental Shared Revenue and Grants - $1,885,400 (2.59%)
• Other Taxes - $1,725,000 (2.37%)
• Service Fees-Utilities - $1,212,500 (1.67%)
• Other Licenses and Permits - $955,500 (1.31%)
• Miscellaneous - $291,000 (0.40%)
• Fines and Forfeits - $83,000 (0.11%)

Other sources of revenue include those from the proprietary funds at $51,362,560 and capital project funds at $45,380,100.

Before adopting the budget, the council reviewed the budget in four worksessions held from September to November. They also conducted two hearings on October 19 and November 15 to seek public comment