WS approves budget for 2010

"I'm sad we had to cut what we had to cut, but overall, we couldn't have done much different than we did," said Shirley Cox, a member of the city's budget committee. "The 2010 reality is just a wake-up call. We can't continue to do things the way we've been doing. I hope we can make this work."

Cox, who has served on the budget committee for many years and was formerly chair of the committee, confirmed that the budget is indeed coming in early this year.

"We've had special meetings on Dec. 31 before. That's not the way to spend New Year's Eve," she joked. "Now we're almost a full month ahead of the game. Hopefully we've laid a little groundwork."

"It's baby steps," noted council member and budget committee chair Leana Johnson.

Council member Bob Landgren said the committee did the best it could with the resources available.

"Not every department got funded as it should be funded, but the budget committee did a wonderful job for the city and I'd like to thank them," Landgren said.

Another council member, Brad Roberts, said he was gratified that the budget was finished far from the end of the year deadline.

"To have the budget done in November is unprecedented," Roberts explained. "The committee was very functional, and it wasn't before this year. It's great to see."

"This is the earliest White Salmon budget has come forward in many many years," added Mayor David Poucher.

During the public comment period before the council voted on whether to accept or reject the proposed budget, Wayne Carlock -- who served as a firefighter in White Salmon for 43 years -- pointed out that the pool offers swimming lessons that could save the lives of people in our community.

"I really want to see the swimming pool open. I've been involved in so many drownings -- little kids, bigger kids, even adults. It never gets easy. I'd like to see the pool remain available," Carlock said.

The pool had earlier been under consideration for closure due to budget constraints, but other cuts had spared the pool in the final version.

When the vote was called, the City Council members present passed the 59-page city budget, 4-0.

"Wow, that is awesome," commented Poucher.