COEUR d'ALENE — The Coeur d'Alene City Council approved Tuesday a $95.2 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which includes cuts to initially proposed capital expenditures and property tax increases.

City officials initially proposed increasing the property taxes for residents by 3 percent, the maximum allowed annually under statute, but were challenged by members of the council to reduce the percentage. The final version of the budget — approved on a 5-0 vote with Councilman Ron Edinger being absent from the regular meeting of the council — will see property taxes raised by 2.5 percent.

"We could have hammered it down more," said Councilman Dan Gookin, one of the biggest advocates for lessening the tax increase during the budget process. "But unless you have elected officials adamant that there will be no property tax increase, staff is always going to take as much as they can get."

Gookin applauded city staff for their dedication to making cuts of about $600,000 to the initially proposed budget. However, Gookin noted he and Mayor Steve Widmyer were the only elected officials to propose any additional cuts to the budget.

"If the elected officials can show fiscal discipline, the staff will follow suit," Gookin added.

Finance Director Troy Tymesen told The Press Wednesday city officials were able to lower the tax increase primarily through cutting expenditures on new equipment.

"We were able to reduce the total monetary amount we are taking from constituents by $98,110," Tymesen added. "We cut capital expenditures pretty hard by whittling them down in a number of areas."

Tymesen added decreasing capital expenditures also reduces the amount the city will take from its fund balance. Previously, city staff recommended using $781,000 of the city's $7.6 million fund balance for one-time purchases of things like a turf vehicle for the parks department and two new vehicles for the building department.

"We were able to reduce it to $187,198 in fund balance," said Deputy City Administrator Sam Taylor.

The city's levy rate, according to Taylor, will drop from $6.09 to $6.02 per thousand dollars of value on a piece of property.

"So if a home’s value does not increase substantially a person will actually see a property tax decrease — also in part because the homeowner’s exemption went up year over year," he added.

Both Taylor and Tymesen said the budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, is centered around public safety. According to Taylor, the approved budget will see the city hire two new police officers, a police IT analyst, and nine new firefighters.

"About 62 percent of the entire budget is public safety and we are really proud of that focus," Taylor said. "We know the community appreciates that focus, too."

Tymesen added the de-annexation of property previously held by ignite cda, the city's urban renewal agency, was the largest cash flow help for the city financially since it brings in an additional $538,000 in tax revenue to the city.

"We probably would have had to cut in a lot of other areas otherwise," Tymesen said.