The Lynnwood Times’ Financial Crisis of the Year goes to the City of Edmonds for its $13 million deficit made worse from the city overestimating revenues by $200,000 and made worse by overestimating the beginning budget balance by $550,000 and paying more than $250,000 in un-budgeted funds to laid off employees.
To deal with this nearly $1 million mistake, Edmonds Mayor Mike Rosen is proposing 12-day furloughs for non-union employees, cutting human resource staffing, eliminating a probation officer, selling city vehicles, cutting the beach rangers program, annexing its fire department into South County Fire, laying off 46 city employees, taking out a $7.5 million loan and asking voters for a potential levy lift, all in addition to dissolving its police department.
To ensure the city does not make the same budgetary mistakes in the future, officials say they will be implementing more checks and balances, changing purchasing policies, and being more frugal in income projections. The city also plans to move to a biannual budgeting process instead of an annual.
A special mention for worst financial crises of 2024 is the Marysville School District who has been struggling with a financial crisis for years following two failed levy lifts, failing to submit a balanced budget, being placed under enhanced oversight by the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), and a recent audit found “alarming” issues.
The School District parted ways with Superintendent Dr. Zachary Robbins who was front-and-center in an ongoing district financial crisis early October. He’s set to receive a whopping $430,000 severance package.
The OSPI’s financial oversight committee met several times in June and found multiple financial challenges at the district, including its failure to produce a reliable budget for the 2024-25 school year. The committee was unable to determine if the proposed budget meets OSPI’s binding conditions for several reasons:
- The district insurance policy will cost more than the expected $600,000 increase.
- The district is unable to quantify its 2024-25 staff and unable to report a budget for salaries.
- Its estimated material costs do not align with previous years after adjusting for inflation and enrollment changes.
- The district continues to borrow money to account for budgeting issues.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
