2013 Annual Budget - City of Bremerton

Office of the Mayor
345 6th Street, Suite 600
Bremerton, WA 98337-1873
Telephone: 360-473-5266
Fax: 360-473-5883
patty.lent@ci.bremerton.wa.us
_________________________________________________________________Patty Lent, Mayor
January 1, 2013
To the Citizens and the Honorable Council of the City of Bremerton,
It is my privilege to present to you the 2013 Fiscal Budget for the City of Bremerton.
Over the last few years, the challenging economic times in which we live have forced us to take a
hard look at exactly how much money we have and how we spend it. This has meant making
many adjustments to our way of life to ensure that we live within our means. The City of
Bremerton continues to do the same. As with the development of the 2012 Budget, the
development of the 2013 Budget continues to acknowledge that the City must be more lean and
efficient as we provide services to our citizens while continuing to take strategic steps in achieving
long term fiscal sustainability. The 2013 Budget keeps the City on this path.
As you review this document, I would like to highlight the following specific areas:
This budget does not include any identified cost of living increases for our staff. The City
completed negotiations with the Teamsters during 2012. As part of the approved contract, the
Teamsters agreed to forgo any cost of living adjustments (COLA) for both 2012 and 2013. In
addition, the Teamsters will begin to incur incremental increases to the amount of employee
contribution toward health care costs. These concessions have been instrumental in assisting
the City in continuing toward achieving long term fiscal health and I wish to sincerely thank
the Teamsters for their collaboration and cooperation in being a valued partner with the City.
Our management personnel, while not covered by a collective bargaining agreement, do
receive the same pay adjustments and benefits as the Teamsters. As such, they too will not be
receiving COLAs for 2012 or 2013. In addition, the City is currently in negotiations with the
Bremerton Police Guild and Bremerton Police Management Association (BPMA) and will be
commencing negotiations in the near future with our Firefighter’s Local 437 Union. The
Police Guild and BPMA labor contracts expired at the end of 2011 and as we negotiate these
contracts, we must maintain a status quo until new contracts are ratified. The Firefighter’s
Local 437 contract expires at the end of 2012. Because we are or will be in active negotiations
regarding these contracts, we do not yet know what, if any, cost of living adjustments or
concessions will be associated with them.
Revenue projections throughout all funds remain conservative. While we continue to believe
that the economy has made a turn for the better, and we continue to see slow but steady
economic development within the City, it will still take a few years for the City’s revenues to
realize these improvements. As such, our revenue projections show little growth over the
current and prior two years.
As part of our everyday procedures, the City continually assesses its debt service obligations
against the current interest rate climate to identify potential refinancing opportunities to help