Along with setting the 2024 property tax within the city during Tuesday’s Centralia City Council meeting, the council also unanimously approved an amendment to the city’s 2023-2024 biennium budget on its first reading, with a second scheduled for the next city council meeting on Dec. 12.
The amendment was made as appropriations among all funds within the biennium budget have increased by a total of $4,764,401, Centralia Finance Director Bret Brodersen said. This increases the city’s budget from $149,563,821 to $154,363,222 across all funds.
“We’re funding this through unspent revenues and unspent 2022 expenditure authority fund balance,” Brodersen said.
Increases were due to a number of reasons in the budget’s general fund, including:
• Salary increases, benefits and overtime pay for Centralia Police Department officers and other city staff.
• The new portable surveillance trailer purchased for the police department
• Police dispatch cost increases
• Police department vehicle repairs and maintenance
• Rotary Riverside Park playground repairs
• Inter-fund charges for information services among various city departments
• Washington Cities Insurance Authority liability and risk insurance premium increases
• Expanding the Building Inspection department
• City attorney contract adjustments
• A new city finance department position
• Payouts for retiring employees with reserve vacation and sick time
Increases across all other city budget funds include the:
• Repair and demolition fund increases for property remediation
• Seizure fund increases for overtime pay, rentals and building repair and maintenance
• Depot fund increases for repair and maintenance
• Firefighter retiree trust fund for pension and medical increases
• Transportation mitigation fee fund increases for street improvement projects
• Transportation benefit fund for federally funded projects
• Sobriety fund increases for authorized jail costs
• Light fund increases for salaries, benefits and interfund charges
• Water fund increases for salaries, benefits and interfund charges
• Wastewater fund increases for salaries, benefits and interfund charges
• Stormwater fund increases for salaries and benefits
To view the City of Centralia’s 2023-2024 biennium budget, visit https://www.cityofcentralia.com/201/Budget. To read The Chronicle’s coverage of the Centralia 2024 property tax, visit https://bit.ly/46CrLE7.
