PORT TOWNSEND — It may come down to voters deciding ultimately which city services get more funding than others.
City Manager David Timmons on Monday night urged the City Council to consider a voter tax increase measure that specifies the city services voters want to save.
“I think the key here is that the council find a plan of action you can all agree upon and take it to the voters,” Timmons told council members at a work session in the Harrison Street fire station.
The city manager, in a 2007 budget priorities presentation and council discussion, said he could ultimately come down to choosing between library, parks or fire services, for example.
If residents want to increase street improvements by $500,000, they may well have to cut $250,000 from library and $250,000 from community services, said Timmons.
A $250,000 cut would slash the popular library’s budget by about a third, he said.
Calling the 2004 city “levy lid lift” voter proposition “a fear-based levy” that voters widely defeated, Councilman Geoff Masci said a new proposal must focus on individual services that voters could accept or reject.
