By Dennis Box, The Courier-Herald

The growth and expansion of Bonney Lake and the search for a core community identity are all reflected in the $49 million dollar budget proposed to the City Council by Mayor Bob Young and his staff.

While the 2004 projected budget is very close to the 2003 budget of $50 million, the growth of the city's commercial and residential areas are evident in the increased budgets from $30 million in the 2001 budget to the present.

"The budget has grown significantly since 2001," Councilman Neil Johnson said. "The jump from 2002 to 2003 was huge."

The budget has yet to be approved by the City Council and signed by the mayor. The approval process must be finished by Dec. 31.

"It's a good budget. We've tried to meet the needs of the City Council and the staff to provide what they need and want," Mayor Bob Young said. "It's not an austere budget. It's more moderate."

A number of changes came out of the City Council workshops including $90,000 for three more police cars. A total of eight new police vehicles are scheduled to arrive in January.

Other additions include:

€ $12,000 for Bonney Lake Days, bringing the total expenditure to $20,000.

€ $100,000 for improvements to the three baseball fields and soccer field at Allen Yorke Park. Total expenditure for the park is $375,000.

€ $25,000 for a "Neighborhood Traffic Control Program."

The $3.1 million set aside for a municipal improvement fund to build a new city hall continues to be an unresolved issue between the mayor and City Council. The mayor feels strongly that money has been set aside through savings over the last three years.

"Some have thought the city hall money is inappropriate," Young said. "I think it is prudent. A couple of them (City Council members) want to gut that fund. We have an old building that is not functional. This concerns me. This fund was by direction of the City Council two to three years ago. To say it is without City Council action is inaccurate."

The City Council has directed Finance Director John Weidenfeller to move the fund out of the Municipal Capital Improvement Fund into a general fund balance.

Deputy Mayor Dan Swatman stated, "We recently used those funds to purchase some property for the city, so it's not solely for a new city hall. In the end it will be the City Council's decision where that money will be spent. What is being called savings, I call overcharging for services. Government exists for the citizens and I don't hear a lot of concerns about city hall from the citizens. I do hear about a senior center and youth center."

Young earlier proposed a decrease in property taxes by 10 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. "The Council didn't want to take that chance of a tax decrease. I think they are nervous about the (Tim) Eyman initiative (I-747) and its impact," Young said.

Swatman disagreed. "I didn't feel that way," he said. "The bottom line is government services are going to cost a certain amount. You can't cut revenue and expect that to save money. If the mayor wants to save money he has to cut services."

Johnson felt the tax cut benefited large commercial interests more than individual homeowners. "If you really want to give something back, lets give a million dollars back from that ($3.1 million city hall) fund. That would be significant," he said.

The City Council voted Nov. 10 to maintain the city's property tax levy in 2004 at the current rate of $1.60, rather than lower it. The vote was 5-to-1 with Councilman Dave King voting no.

The general sense among council members is that it's a good budget that needs to have the details hammered out in the deliberative process of government. "We must have a vision," Johnson said. "We can't just let rules dictate. I'm 38 now. When I'm 68 what will Bonney lake look like?"

Dennis Box can be reached at dbox@courierherald.com