The Spokane City Council embarked on a process in 2006 to develop a Strategic Plan to Achieve Financial Stability for the City of Spokane. The Council formed a committee in January 2006 to address the City's ongoing budgetary structural gap, which manifests itself in expenditures growing at a faster rate than revenues. The Strategic Planning Committee was chaired by Council Member Al French and joined by Council Members Brad Stark and Rob Crow. Because of the importance of this task, however, all of the City Council Members participated in this process. The committee membership was then expanded to include representatives from the administration, bargaining units and the neighborhoods through the Community Assembly.
The Committee’s first task was to develop a strategic plan to address this “structural gap” in the city’s budget and to strive to establish financial sustainability for the city over a 2, 5 and 10 year time period. The Spokane City Council, in partnership with the administration, bargaining units, and neighborhood representatives engaged in a planning process to identify expense reduction opportunities and revenue enhancements to address the structural gap. The committee’s first phase of work was completed in August 2006 and documented in the attached report. This report forms the template for future actions to be taken by both the legislative and administrative branches of city government in an effort to provide city services in the most cost efficient and effective manner possible. The committee is now working on the next steps and will keep the community informed of its progress and outcomes.
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