By BRIAN WALKER

Staff Writer

COEUR d'ALENE — The city of Coeur d'Alene wants to hit the road with its proposed fiscal 2019 budget.

Staff is proposing to purchase $615,000 in chip-seal equipment and partner with neighboring cities on road maintenance to save on costs that would otherwise be spent on the private sector, city administrator Troy Tymesen said.

"This is the year of the chip seal," Tymesen said Thursday. "The city is proposing to the elected officials a chip-seal program (partnership with Hayden, Dalton Gardens and Post Falls)."

Tymesen said because cities chip seal only a few weeks out of the year, savings can be realized through collaboration with the neighboring cities.

"We estimate that in the fourth year of the program we will have paid for everything by having savings due to a partnership with labor costs and understanding we can use equipment with other agencies," he said.

Tymesen said the savings would come through not contracting with the private sector for things like flagging crews.

"Our current contract for mobilization and traffic control is $140,000 in one year," he said. "We believe, with our partners, we can handle the flagging."

The cities could also cut costs by contracting on a single larger job than individually.

Tymesen said Coeur d'Alene would take the lead on the equipment cost since it has the most roads to maintain. He said the concept would be to share equipment and personnel, but further details still need to be ironed out.

Tymesen said the city recently hired field supervisor Jack Reichert, who coordinated a similar partnership in the Boise area.

Chip-seal road maintenance is relatively new to Coeur d'Alene and has improved since the size of the rocks and liability of cracking windshields isn't as large, Tymesen said.

"Chip sealing extends the life of roads by at least 10 years and we can do more lineal feet of chip sealing than overlays," Tymesen said.

The City Council will set its high-water mark for the budget amount on Tuesday at 6 p.m. The public hearing on the budget will be Sept. 4 at 6 p.m.

BIG PICTURE

The total proposed budget amount is $91.3 million, up 2 percent from $89.5 million for the current year. The General Fund portion of the budget is proposed to increase to $41 million, up 6.8 percent from $38.4 million for the current year.

Staff is proposing a 3 percent property-tax increase that would generate about $640,573. Under state law, cities can increase property taxes up to 3 percent per year.

"But that could be decreased at the first meeting in September (during the public hearing)," Tymesen said.

Even if a tax hike is approved by the council, that doesn't automatically mean residents will see an increase in city taxes from the previous year, Tymesen said.

"If we raise 3 percent and (a home value) doesn't go up, you'll actually pay less," he said. "We're forecasting that, even with a property-tax increase, our levy rate will go down."

The city didn't take a tax increase in four of the past five years. Two years ago, it took a 2.5 percent hike.

New construction continues to help the city's financial picture, Tymesen said. In fiscal 2018, taxes paid from new construction generated $492,918 in new revenue, which was more than the previous two years.

"We're in one of the healthiest economies you could dial into," he said. "Employment is nearly full and consumer confidence is positive."

ADDING JOBS

New positions proposed in the budget include a parks maintenance worker and a building permit coordinator. A police officer and victims advocate are other additional positions, but those will be funded 75 percent with federal grants.

The deputy city administrator position has been reduced to a project coordinator, saving the city $56,000. The project coordinator would oversee efforts such as the parking garage, Atlas waterfront development and the recycling program. The finance director job has been changed to an accountant, saving $77,000.

A 2.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for employees estimated at $658,839 is proposed. Merit pay hikes of up to 5 percent are being considered, pending contract negotiations with three unions. The budgeted amount for the merit increases is $495,450.

The city's medical insurance is proposed to increase 5.1 percent.

"That's not locked in and, by making a couple changes, we're hoping to lower that," Tymesen said.

The city does not plan to dip into its foregone tax balance of $5 million. Coeur d'Alene's foregone amount is the second-highest among cities in the state.

Foregone is a taxing authority built up from previous years of the council not taking the maximum yearly property tax increase of 3 percent.

Tymesen commended department heads for keeping their budget requests at a respectable level and not asking for too much at once.

"Our goal is to be sustainable year over year," he said.

Tymesen also thanked residents for approving a general obligation bond three years ago that purchased fire equipment that would have otherwise drained the budget.