City likely to make cuts to budget

SNOQUALMIE - The Snoqualmie City Council will likely have to make cuts next year to balance the budget.

Preliminary numbers given at the Oct. 13 council meeting have department revenues coming in at more than $455,000 below estimated expenditures in 2004. Snoqualmie expects to collect $5.82 million next year for departments, but has $6.27 million of expenditures planned.

"We might have to cut back a little bit," said Interim City Administrator Don Isley.

Although City Treasurer Janet Carr stressed that the numbers were preliminary and that revenue estimates were conservative, she said it appeared as though the city will not be able to balance the budget unless changes are made.

"This is preliminary and it [revenue] is expected to go up," Carr said. "We just don't know by how much."

Isley said the tax base in Snoqualmie has continued to grow but not fast enough to keep up with the increasing cost of running the city. The city's government is not looking to expand next year but just maintain the services that it already provides, he added.

The general fund is only part of the overall budget, however, and other funds are expected to have a surplus. Also, Carr said that money the city gets from the sales of homes from real estates excise taxes (REET) are coming in higher than expected as well.

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