EDITORIAL ‘Early intervention study’ raises concerns about Washington’s finances

Some believe the way a municipality maintains its streets is a good illustration to how it manages its budget. If the pothole-riddled streets around Washington are any indication, then the city’s finances are a disaster.
City Council appears ready to admit as much, as officials are expected to vote tonight to request an “early intervention study” be performed this year to look at the city’s budget and offer suggestions on how to cut waste and improve revenue opportunities.
While Mayor Scott Putnam said the move is precautionary to prevent it from approaching state-controlled oversight, it raises questions about the financial viability of the city, which went through this same process in 2007 when its finances were in dire straights.
The response back then was to levy an additional .635-perceent income tax on all workers and residents in Washington to boost the city’s ailing pension fund that supports retired firefighters and police officers. A decade later, the fund is considered solvent – with help from a booming stock market – and that income tax is being ratcheted down before it is eventually supposed to disappear entirely at an undetermined date.
There’s no doubt that last July’s building collapse on North Main Street has set the city back. But with more stormwater projects on the horizon and pension costs continuing to soar, it raises questions about whether the city can continue to do business as usual.
Higher taxes certainly aren’t the solution, especially after the city set a towering 34.21-mill rate for land and another 3.58 mills on buildings. There’s only so much taxpayers in the city can continue to give when the streets remain in disrepair and the snowplows make fewer runs each year.
Something has to change. With any luck, this study will give city officials the answers they’re seeking.