Senior and summer recreation programs shuttered. Buses face new ridership limits and scaled back route options. When the Neill Public Library asked for more staff after its director got injured while sorting curbside checkout materials, city officials instead cut down service days from five to three.
“I had several conversations with the mayor and city administrator asking them for additional staff to more appropriately distribute the workload,” Library Director Joanna Bailey wrote in an email to her board last month. “Neill Public Library is falling behind due to low staffing levels.”
Pullman city officials have curtailed spending across departments in response to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, but a combination of administrative austerity, labor union dynamics and state restrictions have left some civic services disproportionately impacted.
Finance Director Mike Urban has said he anticipates the city will bring in 12-15 percent less money this year than previously budgeted. Most departments have been asked to cut their expenses by at least 10 percent. See a recent financial presentation here. During a May city council meeting, Urban said officials should consider the city’s “minimum viable product.”
“What do we need to provide as a city to our citizens to keep the basics running?” he said, adding, “Does that mean we wipe out everything else? … We’re looking at what are the essential functions of the city.”
As the city has furloughed workers and scrutinized spending, officials and the city council said they would prioritize public safety. Police and fire, which together make up more than 62 percent of the General Fund, have mostly limited their 10-percent cuts to leaving positions vacant, reducing overtime and canceling training.
The Neill Public Library, Pullman Transit and Parks programs have meanwhile faced extensive furloughs and public service reductions. The library now expects to see its budget reduced by at least 27 percent by the end of this year.
Mayor Glenn Johnson told Whitman County Watch that officials had worked closely with department heads to try to protect full-time employees while continuing what operations they could. State restrictions and local public health concerns have repeatedly changed what the city can feasibly do.
“We’re trying to make the best of what we’ve got,” he said. “This is so fluid.”
Johnson said the city has compared ideas with other communities about how to adapt programs amid COVID-19 limitations. But some neighboring communities have rolled out virtual or alternative support services that Pullman has not yet pursued.
Personnel wages and benefits make up the largest operating expense in the city’s budget. When officials started looking to save money as COVID-19 closures cut into tax revenue, they put out notice of potential furloughs or layoffs in late April.
Many of the city’s highest-paid personnel can be found in the police and fire departments where several veteran employees earn more than department heads. Emails show those unions stonewalled any consideration of furloughs in their departments. Both unions filed massive public records requests, demanding several years of timesheets, budget itemizations and various city contracts before opening furlough negotiations.
Anticipating it would take months to collect the records and even start talks, city officials looked elsewhere to save money.
Furloughs instead fell on the library staff, parks workers, various administrative assistants and the city’s coordinators for senior and preschool programs. The city continued to pay its share of benefits while those staffers sought unemployment.
Of the approximately 30 full-time employees furloughed citywide earlier this year, records suggest two-thirds were women. Nineteen workers had been reinstated to at least part-time work by Aug. 1. The library now reports another five staffers should be reinstated by the end of the month. (Johnson said gender was not taken into consideration during furlough or reinstatement decisions.)
City officials also laid off an unknown number of part-time, casual or seasonal positions. The library employed about 15 part-time staff, some of whom had worked regularly for more than a decade. Parks and Recreation typically hires seasonal groundskeepers, recreation program coaches, lifeguards and musicians for summer concerts. (Transit usually lays off staff as ridership drops in summer.)
Payroll records show the city issued payments to just 255 people in June of this year compared to more than 360 workers in June of 2019.
City expenditure records posted online show departments in the General Fund such as police, fire, the library and parks had spent on average just 43 percent of their allotted budgets during the first half of the year. A few departments had spent above 50 percent due to increased debt or annual fees. The legislative office has also reportedly spent more on lobbying amid the COVID-19 crisis.
Spending on salaries and benefits had remained at or close to 50 percent for the year in small administrative departments as well as the fire department. The police department had spent about 40 percent of its salary budget for the year. Both police and fire reported reductions in overtime wages.
With much of its staff on furlough, the library had spent just 34 percent of its salary budget for the year by the end of June. Parks and Rec had spent 34 percent and the Aquatic Center had spent just 22 percent of its salary budget.
Finance Director Urban recently told the Pullman City Council that tax revenues had caught up a little in recent months and might not end up as dire as first feared, but projections continue to change rapidly. The council recently approved using about $650,000 in federal CARES relief funding to pay for about $300,000 in salary costs and other crisis response expenses.
Whitman County Watch filed a public records request for a variety of budget, email and furlough documents to clarify the city’s spending amid the COVID-19 crisis. The city provided most of the records and noted others were pending, but did not provide an estimated time of release.
Whitman County Watch also asked multiple department heads or managers for comment and was directed to City Administrator Adam Lincoln, who was unavailable for comment last week. Mayor Johnson offered comment instead.
“You’re looking at community safety and the public safety,” Johnson said of city budget priorities. “We’ve been doing all kinds of things to take care of our people. … We’re trying our best.”
Update, Aug. 25: The city recently released additional records, including a budget overview of more than $5.1 million in identified budget reductions across all departments for 2020. Those reductions include about $700,000 from police, $507,000 from recreation programs and $480,000 from the library. The projections also include estimated reductions from capital projects and transit.
See that summary report here.
The city also released an Aug. 1 email directive from Lincoln mandating staff send any budget-related questions from media through his office. Lincoln told Whitman County Watch: “My goal was to ensure one voice and a unified message on budget items.” The email went out the same day the Moscow-Pullman Daily News ran this story on library budget and staffing cuts.
From the information available in budget records and emails, here is some of what has been released about how city departments have approached trimming budgets:
LIBRARY
The library makes up 7 percent of the city’s General Fund with a $1.8 million annual budget. Library Director Joanna Bailey shared a financial report with the library’s Board of Trustees last week, noting freezes or reductions across almost every aspect of the budget from staff to materials to subscriptions. She now projects at least a 27-30 percent reduction to the budget by the end of the year — a loss of about $500,000.
“We’ll see what happens,” she said. “It’s likely that amount will increase.”
Records show Bailey filed a worker’s compensation report after she injured her hands and wrists doing repetitive sorting of curbside checkout materials. She asked city leaders to bring back additional library staff to keep up with the demand and they instead told her to limit repetitive tasks and cut service.
Bailey told the board that decision resulted in remaining staff having to just do more work on fewer days to keep up with demand. Neighboring Whitman County and Latah County libraries have expanded curbside checkouts, online reference services, offered to-go activity bags and launched virtual summer reading programs.
Pullman, which is separate from the county library district, has not.
“We field calls on a daily basis from patrons who expect the same level of service from Pullman’s library,” Bailey wrote in an email.
A national survey of 3,850 libraries in May found two-thirds had reported no significant changes in staffing since the start of the crisis. Update: The Whitman County Rural Library District announced today it will reopen limited in-person services at its 14 branches later this week.
“I do not agree with the city’s ‘solution’ to the problem,” one board member wrote. “There is no way we can offer similar services [as other libraries] with the budget we are working with.”
Since the library building closed in March, the department’s 28 full- and part-time employees was reduced to just four. City officials have now announced five more staffers should return by the end of the month. Read additional Daily News coverage here.
Bailey noted the Friends of the Neill Public Library had committed to providing about $60,000 to help replace funding for new materials. Demand for digital services like e-books or Kanopy continued to grow. Bailey also routinely sees people out in the parking lot using the library’s wifi.
The library has had a draft reopening plan prepared for several weeks, but is awaiting state Phase 3 guidelines before it can try to open the building.
Board members emphasized how essential many citizens consider the local library amid the loss of other social and educational institutions. Bailey noted that when the stay-home order first came down in March, many citizens stocked up on library books and movies in addition to canned goods or toilet paper.
“That made quite an impression on me,” she said.
POLICE
Law enforcement makes up about 32 percent of the General Fund, approximately $8 million. Police Chief Gary Jenkins told city officials in May he had reduced overlapping shifts and limited overtime to save money. Limiting those hours meant some case investigations would take longer to complete.
A budget update from the city showed the department planned to cut almost $600,000 from salary and benefits spending by leaving one commander and three officer positions vacant the rest of the year. The cancelation of most police training would also save money on travel and overtime. The department reported an overall $76,000 reduction in overtime for the first half of the year.
City officials expressed frustration with the police and fire unions after both pushed back against any reductions to staff hours. Union attorneys filed large records requests and demanded lengthy negotiations before any furloughs could be implemented. Both unions have a right to arbitration in their contracts.
“As expected we don’t expect to see any cooperation from Police,” a city manager emailed in April. “We have other departments promoting furloughs every other week and splitting the work unit (not fire of course). … We shall see how this goes.”
City officials noted labor contracts allowed them to lay off two newly hired police officers still in the early probationary period if needed. The department has also identified $165,000 in cuts to “other services” and about $66,000 in supplies.
Emails also reflect some “pushback” from departments after city council members stated in May they would prioritize public safety budgets.
“The Mayor and City Council made it clear … they did not want administration to make any cuts to the staffing within the Police Department and Fire Department,” Lincoln wrote in May. “While I would personally lean towards a different outcome, I think … we want to incur absolutely no costs that we do not need to.”
FIRE
Fire and ambulance services account for nearly 30 percent of the General Fund, about $7.4 million. Fire Chief Mike Heston in April identified about $744,000 in cuts, including almost $600,000 in “non-essential expenditures” and vehicle debt expenses. The department has reported a $65,000 reduction in overtime costs so far.
The April plan also proposed saving $120,000 by canceling or laying off reserve crews, but city officials rejected that plan in hopes reserve crews would help limit overtime hours. A newer plan was not released by the city.
“With these cuts, no career members of the department are financially impacted at this time nor will it impact the current labor contract,” Heston wrote at in April. “Should additional cuts beyond the 10% become necessary to our 2020 budget, the next level of impact will be to full-time employees.”
Personnel records indicate two department assistants went on shared work furloughs in May. City officials noted one new hire still on probation could potentially be laid off if additional staff reductions were needed.
Emails show that when city officials heard fire union representatives asking why salary cuts were not being directed at higher-paid administrative positions, officials responded that veteran fire employees are typically some of the highest paid workers in the city.
Update, Aug. 19: In mid-May, fire union representatives offered to begin “good faith” negotiations on furloughs, but reiterated they would need the requested documentation before any final agreement. Officials had already withdrawn their furlough bargaining request and records are unclear on whether such talks ever moved forward.
“[We] are concerned about the financial situation of the City, but need the requested information to properly represent our membership and the role we play in protecting and serving our community,” union leadership wrote. “We would like to see that staffing level maintained, but also understand as a bargaining unit, we serve an important role in assisting with mitigating any financial shortfalls.”
The fire department also canceled a contract to provide crews with a personal fitness training program.
PARKS AND RECREATION
Parks and Recreation makes up almost 14 percent of the General Fund, or nearly $3.5 million. Records indicate 18 of the department’s approximately 25 staff went on shared work furloughs in May. At least 17 have since been reinstated.
The Daily News reported last month the department estimated about $300,000 in lost revenue for the year. Parks officials noted the Senior Center would likely remain closed until the county got to Phase 4 restrictions. The Aquatic Center has since reopened with limited availability.
Recreation programs and the Aquatic Center had identified at least $100,000 in budget reductions, including about $15,000 in wages for youth sport, adult rec, fitness and preschool instructors.
Records show officials also canceled several contracts with regional musicians to pay for the city’s summer concert series.
TRANSIT
Pullman Transit does not fall under the General Fund. It started 2020 with an approved budget of about $5.4 million. Transit Manager Wayne Thompson told city officials last month they had reduced routes and established social distancing restrictions on ridership.
Buses can now only transport 10 passengers at a time. Transit typically lays off drivers each summer as ridership drops, but Thompson stated they expect to continue at temporary service levels into the fall.
Mayor Johnson noted some driver positions depend on routes serving Pullman public schools, which will now start the year online.
Both Pullman schools and WSU have asked for at least partial refunds of the fees they pay toward Transit services. City officials have worked to negotiate those refunds, noting much of the money goes toward bus debt or maintenance that cannot be deferred.
“Transit’s funding source is one of the most diverse that we have,” Lincoln said last month. “They’re trying to do their part, … [but] the dollars are tied up in the buses themselves.”
All city departments will be submitting preliminary 2021-2022 budgets in the coming weeks as they prepare for the biennial budget process. The city also plans to change how it evaluates capital projects.