{"id":2463509,"date":"2025-07-18T12:57:02","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T16:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/forecast-spokane-may-face-50m-annual-deficit-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T13:00:48","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T17:00:48","slug":"forecast-spokane-may-face-50m-annual-deficit-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/forecast-spokane-may-face-50m-annual-deficit-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Forecast: Spokane may face $50M annual deficit &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fforecast-spokane-may-face-50m-annual-deficit-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2463509&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The city of Spokane is facing a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dow-jones-futures-fall-600-points-following-international-bank-shares-sharp-decline\/\" title=\"Dow Jones futures fall 600 points following international bank shares&#039; sharp decline\">growing financial crisis<\/a>, with officials now forecasting a general fund deficit of $13.4 million by 2026, considerably higher than earlier estimates. If unaddressed, this shortfall could exceed $50 million by 2031, with cumulative deficits perhaps surpassing $200 million. The budget challenges stem from declining sales tax revenue due to reduced consumer spending, rising costs including fire department overtime, jail expenses, healthcare premiums, and costly union contracts signed during the pandemic. Although the city balanced a $25 million deficit going into 2025 by cutting personnel, using reserves, and raising taxes, these measures may not be sufficient this time. Officials are considering further meaningful actions such as cost controls,potential personnel cuts,and new revenue streams,but options are limited. City leaders warn that maintaining essential services like fire protection could be impacted without substantial changes.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Forecast: Spokane may face $50M annual deficit<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2176771\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>(The Center Square)&nbsp;&ndash; Despite a $3.8 million projection in May, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/washington\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Spokane<\/a> officials reviewed data Thursday that show the city&rsquo;s general fund <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/budgets-and-deficits\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">deficit<\/a> heading into 2026 is now at $13.4 million and rising.<\/p>\n<p>If left unaddressed, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/taxes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">revenue<\/a> shortfall could snowball to more than $50 million by 2031. The Spokane City Council and Mayor Lisa Brown balanced a $25 million hole heading into 2025. Similarly, that general fund deficit was projected to reach about&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/my.spokanecity.org\/news\/statements\/2024\/12\/10\/statement-from-mayor-brown-of-passage-of-2025-2026-budget\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$50 million<\/a>&nbsp;by 2027 had they not acted.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3475666\/backlash-bill-la-fire-rebuild-agency-hold\/\">Backlash puts bill creating LA fire rebuilding agency on hold<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/3475557\/north-korea-beach-resort-bans-foreigners\/\">North Korea bans foreigners from beach resort after first round of Russian tourists<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3475503\/ex-brazilian-president-jair-bolsonaro-ankle-monitor-coup-trial\/\">Ex-Brazilian president Bolsonaro ordered to wear ankle monitor ahead of coup trial<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>When they passed a balanced budget in December, many&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_8460421e-b735-11ef-bb54-73182a4f14e3.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">hoped<\/a>&nbsp;it was the end of their worries.<\/p>\n<p>By 2031, the cumulative deficit is expected to exceed $200 million. In May, the budget staff put that delta at $137 million by 2030, but it seems those projections underestimated the impact of rising costs and federal cuts. Now, reserves and the unappropriated fund balance could be gone by 2027.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Another gap is emerging, and it&rsquo;s coming at us pretty fast,&rdquo; Brown told the council and finance officials. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s partly on the revenue side and it&rsquo;s partly on the expenditure side, but once again, we&rsquo;re going to have to take some fairly significant actions to bring those lines together.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just kind of setting the table here that this is the not-good-news session,&rdquo; Brown continued.<\/p>\n<p>The United States isn&rsquo;t in a recession yet, but consumer confidence is&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conference-board.org\/topics\/consumer-confidence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">trending<\/a>&nbsp;in that direction.<\/p>\n<p>People aren&rsquo;t spending as much, leading to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_375ffc2e-cc8d-4be1-b58f-74e8d519a6f4.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">declining<\/a>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/orange-county-executive-steve-neuhaus-proposes-923-million-budget-for-2024\/\" title=\"Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus suggests a 3 million budget for 2024.\">sales tax growth<\/a>, one of the city&rsquo;s largest sources of revenue. Thursday&rsquo;s projections don&rsquo;t assume the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >1% annual property tax increase allowed<\/a> by state law, but that wouldn&rsquo;t significantly impact things under the current financial climate.<\/p>\n<p>The state attempted to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_68148e26-5f20-4a9b-b4fc-f9d2b64f7db4.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">raise<\/a>&nbsp;the voter-approved 1% cap on annual property tax hikes earlier this year, but the effort stalled. City officials say fire department&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_c5590048-f51e-42bf-94b1-7f5871226f14.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">overtime<\/a>, rising jail costs, upcoming increases in healthcare premiums, and collective bargaining agreements are also to blame.<\/p>\n<p>Fire Chief Julie O&rsquo;Berg said cuts to reduce overtime won&rsquo;t come without service-level impacts.<\/p>\n<p>Much of the Spokane Fire Department&rsquo;s budget is contractually obligated. In the past, officials have discussed closing a fire station to offset overtime costs. O&rsquo;Berg said SFD hasn&rsquo;t discussed closing a station as an option with the unions yet, but she also didn&rsquo;t rule it out as a possibility.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Theoretically, to your point, you could say, &lsquo;okay, that staff is is going into the relief pool,&rdquo; Chief Financial Officer Matt Boston said, &ldquo;but based on the contractual obligation, you still need 71; so even if, if those people are in the relief pool, you need at least 71 working any given shift.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Budget staff said the union contracts signed during the COVID-19 pandemic are &ldquo;unsustainable entirely,&rdquo; and required the city to dip further into its&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_49d4fd5e-d8da-44e8-8634-73891cc0798e.html#:~:text=Jessica%20Stratton%2C%20director%20of%20management%20and%20budget%2C%20presented%20data%20showing%20enough%20in%20the%20general%20fund%E2%80%99s%20unappropriated%20reserves%20to%20cover%20a%20shortfall%20this%20year%20but%20not%20much%20else.%20The%20cash%20balance%20has%20dropped%20from%20around%20%2420%20million%20or%20more%20in%202020%20to%20less%20than%20%2410%20million%20today.%C2%A0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reserves<\/a>. They discussed limiting salary and benefit increases to 3% annually, but doing so would still result in a $26.9 million annual deficit in 2031.<\/p>\n<p>They discussed potentially cutting personnel and exploring new revenue streams through state and federal grants or voter-approved tax hikes. Spokane balanced the budget heading into 2025 by cutting personnel and vacancies, dipping into reserves and relying on on-time fund transfers, while also raising taxes; however, the city officials don&rsquo;t have as many options this time around.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/opinion\/3471983\/tax-the-rich-progressivism-has-been-tried-zohran-mamdani-nyc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">REAL &lsquo;TAX THE RICH&rsquo; PROGRESSIVISM HAS BEEN TRIED<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;So what can we do?&rdquo; one budget staffer asked. &ldquo;Ultimately, we need to control costs.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;What you can do is call me a paramedic,&rdquo; Council President Betsy Wilkerson said jokingly. &ldquo;I think I need some resuscitation right now.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2176771\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2176771\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Spokane&#8217;s general fund deficit may exceed $50M annually by 2031<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2463510,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/spokane-washington-downtown-skyline.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[42875,59419,37198,32585,32076],"class_list":["post-2463509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-budget-deficit","tag-finance-forecast","tag-local-government","tag-spokane","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/spokane-washington-downtown-skyline.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2463509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2463509"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2463509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2463513,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2463509\/revisions\/2463513"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2463510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2463509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2463509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2463509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}