Sunnyside Lays Off Workers, Then Discovers Budget Surplus

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Story Published: Nov 3, 2009 at 7:22 PM PDT

By Peter Bukowski

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Interim City Manger Jim Bridges has gone through the numbers over and over, millions of dollars Sunnyside didn't realize it had, when they cut 9 jobs. A huge error in projections are apparently the blame.

"Problem is if you go overly conservative, and you underestimate then you fall into that trap where you start cutting services prematurely and I think that's what happened," Bridges said.

The budget mistake is not a problem Jim Bridges created, it's one he inherited. But it's one he and folks inside City Hall will have to clean up. And it starts with determining just how big a mistake this was.

I asked Bridges if the money would have been enough to save those jobs, "I believe so yes it would have been."

City Councilwoman Theresa Hancock said it was a problem that could have been easily avoided. " When we asked questions of the finance director, we were told that we wouldn't understand the detail and we wouldn't need that level of information," Hancock explained.

But then the information turned out to be wrong. To the tune of more than $1.5 million.

Hancock said it doesn't just shake tax payers. "It takes confidence away from the council also because as council, we need to know what is going on with our budget. And when you can't get the answer from staff, it takes us out of our roles as policy makers"

Sunnyside has a new City Manger, Mayor, and Finance Director, but they all have interim titles. Hancock says she believes her government, but it will need some stability and accountability to prevent future budget mistakes.

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