Council may pull Post Falls Days funds

POST FALLS - Tough times call for tough questions.

And that includes considering breaking traditions in the name of other priorities.

The Post Falls City Council on Tuesday night will consider whether the city should include sponsoring Post Falls Days in its fiscal 2013 budget, but other events and programs beyond essential city services is also expected to be on the table.

Council member Joe Malloy advocated a hard look at the city's involvement with community events, including Post Falls Days, during his campaign run last fall.

With the city crunching numbers - the public hearing on the budget is on Aug. 21 at 6 p.m. - now is the time to set priorities, Malloy said.

"Public safety and public works are the two primary functions of city government, so we need to make sure those are taken care of," Malloy said. "If you don't have money to meet the top priorities, cut the bottom ones. I think throwing a party is at the bottom of the list."

Malloy praised city staff for tightening its belts during the recession, but when the city faces higher costs in the long run to train up police officers or skilled public works personnel who leave for greener pastures than to give them pay raises closer to market rates, yet more needs to be done, he said.

"I don't want to raise taxes, and I haven't heard anyone who is willing to pay more taxes for community events," Malloy said. "Everyone who has come to me has said, 'Please don't raise taxes; everything is tight as it is.'"

At a budget workshop this week, council members asked city staff to take one more look at what could be cut from the budget to avoid raising taxes. Trimming about $80,000 is needed to make that happen. Five percent raises for police and 3 percent raises for other city workers, excluding department heads, are proposed.

The city has budgeted about $15,000 for Post Falls Days in recent years, but that doesn't include staff time for planning, maintenance, policing and to set up and tear down.

Dave Fair, the city's parks and recreation director, said the city in most years has recouped the hard cost, but that doesn't include staff time at the activities at Q'emiln Park and the parade.

Fair didn't want to say whether he believes Post Falls Days should continue under the city's umbrella and deferred to the council on the question.

"I can argue either way, but this is a philosophical question for the council," he said. "And it's not just about Post Falls Days."

Malloy said he'd like to see Post Falls Days continue, but perhaps other groups would consider taking it on for advertising opportunities so government could focus on the essentials during tough times.

"The pie is only so big, so we've got to focus on the biggest priorities," he said.

Malloy said if new businesses choose Post Falls, that would increase revenue, and maybe the city could consider picking the event back up in the future.

Mayor Clay Larkin said if one event or service is examined, others should be as well.

"While Post Falls Days is on the agenda, I am planning on asking department heads to furnish a list of all services above the norm we do as a matter of fairness and open communication to the taxpayers," Larkin said. "When you think about it, there are a whole lot of additional services we provide and seeing them all in one list with dollars attached will be eye-opening."

In other business, the council will hold a public hearing on public hearing fees and Human Resources Director Teresa Benner will give a report on the staff evaluation process.

The meeting starts at 6 p.m. at 408 N. Spokane St.