EVERETT, Wash. – The Fiscal Sustainability Advisory Committee convened by Mayor Cassie Franklin issued their final report this week, offering 24 recommendations for the mayor and city council to further explore for addressing the City’s general government budget deficit.
“I called together this stakeholder committee to explore our fiscal options and advise City leadership on ways we can address the very serious revenue challenges we face,” said Franklin. “I thank the committee for their work on this and look forward to working with city council to put some of these recommendations into motion. The current pandemic has only intensified the need for us to boldly, and creatively, make lasting changes to put us on a more sustainable financial path.”
The 24 recommendations fall into seven categories: efficiencies, additional cuts, additional revenues, transfer of service responsibility and partnering with others for service delivery, legislative advocacy, adjusting city land use and economic development goals, and public information. The report acknowledges pursuing all 24 simultaneously isn’t feasible, and instead recommends that the mayor and city council prioritize where to focus their energies.
“Our committee concluded that the City’s general government operations are simply not sustainable in the long run and unfortunately there is no one silver bullet solution,” said Dan Leach, Fiscal Sustainability Advisory Committee chair. “We believe it will take dramatic action, and we’ve included 24 recommendations that we feel the administration and council should consider and explore further.”
The Fiscal Sustainability Advisory Committee is composed of thirteen community leaders and began meeting in June 2020. The committee was tasked to make recommendations to address the general government budget deficit in 2022 and beyond.
###
