Mayor Greg Nickels had laid out his plans to cut $13.3 million from the city’s 2009 general fund budget, while preserving funding for public safety and direct human services.

“As we make difficult budget decisions, my priority is maintaining our core services for public safety and people in need,” said Nickels in a statement released Friday, April 17. “These budget actions will keep our city in a solid financial position to deal with the ongoing national recession.”

With declining revenue from sales taxes and business and occupation taxes, the latest forecast projects $29.5 million less in revenue in the city’s general fund for 2009, compared to last year’s estimate.

Anticipating revenues would be lower because of the national economic recession, the mayor instituted a series of cost-cutting measures in the fourth quarter of 2008. Even though final revenues were $13 million less than expected for the year, the city finished 2008 with a positive balance of $19 million. That is carried over to offset lower revenues this year.

“When I took office in 2002, we were in a financial crisis," Nickels went on to say. "The rainy day fund was only $2.5 million. The budget gap was huge. But we made good decisions with hard choices. We cut deep, and grew smart. We once again face adversity. But this time, our financial house is in good order to weather the storm.”

Nickels is proposing to tap up to $5 million in the rainy day fund this year, leaving more than $25 million available to help balance the budget in 2010. The rainy day fund is up to $30.6 million, the highest ever, according to the mayor's office.

The mayor’s budget action, which cuts general fund spending by an additional 1.5 percent in 2009, eliminates about 59 positions citywide, about a half of which are currently vacant. The cuts will result in some layoffs but workers finding other employment in the city will reduce the number of people losing jobs.

The mayor is also furloughing some professional staff in several departments and reducing overtime, supplies and expenses. Last month, the mayor announced rolling back salaries for 100 senior managers.

The mayor said he will re-balance the 2009 budget with no increase in taxes, fees or rates. Earlier this month, the mayor announced that Seattle City Light and Seattle Public Utilities would make budget reductions to avoid any changes to their rates in 2009.

After consulting with the city council and a public hearing on April 22 at 5:30 p.m., the mayor plans to implement mid-year 2009 budget cuts beginning May 1 and continue looking for additional savings in the months ahead.

In addition to a drop in general fund revenue, the city is also experiencing a reduction in real estate excise tax (REET) due to the slow-down in commercial and residential real estate sales. Last week, the Nickels announced plans to defer REET-funded maintenance on some city facilities.

He announced that plans to rebuild or upgrade 14 fire stations would continue as scheduled in 2009, but another nine projects slated to begin in 2010 would be delayed by about a year.