POULSBO — When city officials prepared their 2006 budget, they anticipated an Olhava windfall, but final sales tax revenues exceeded those projections.
During the city’s 2006 budget deliberations, Finance Director Nanci Lien and budget analyst Deb Booher told the council they were comfortable with a $500,000 increase in the city’s 2006 sales tax projections because of the openings of Wal-Mart and The Home Depot and the continued escalation of construction activity throughout the city.
By the end of 2006, the final increase was a whopping $682,312. The December 2006 sales tax report was released Jan. 3.
“The final report showed we were up 6.06 percent in December over (2005),” Booher said. “We’re right on target.”
The largest area of increase was in retail trade. Construction was second, Booher said.
2006 was the first year that the long-awaited College Market Place revenue stream began flowing into the city’s coffers, which explains the large differences in the city’s revenue picture from previous years, Lien said.
“Starting next year should be the first the pies should be similar,” she said, referring to the pie charts, which indicate where the city received its sales tax revenues.
Councilman Ed Stern, who served on the city council’s finance/administration committee in 2005, supported the increased sales tax projection for the city’s 2006 budget.
“It’s not a windfall,” Stern said. “There is no slack.”
With upcoming projects such as the new city hall, the rebirth of the Marine Science Center, the Lindvig Bridge beautification project and the North Kitsap Regional Events Center, the increased revenue has already been allocated, he said.
With a moratorium on development in or near critical areas and another moratorium on Planned Unit Developments, the city’s finances have yet to feel any ill effects, and Stern said he doesn’t anticipate that happening.
“I don’t want to see them go on six months,” he said. “The Critical Areas Ordinance, the revised PUD ordinance and the traffic impact fee ordinance need to come together within the next two months.”
The Critical Areas Ordinance is scheduled to go before the full city council on Feb. 7. No date has been set for a public hearing on the PUD ordinance.
A working group has been established to focus on the CAO, and Stern said that might be a possibility for the PUD ordinance.
“There are questions,” Stern said. “I’ll have to hear from staff.”
In addition to the burden of city hall and all of the other issues city staff is being asked to tackle, Stern said the CAO, PUD ordinance and traffic impact fee ordinance need to be on equal footing.
