What do you want to bet that Moscow will raise taxes instead.
Nearly 10 percent of city workers have seen loss of hours
The city of Pullman has temporarily furloughed or reduced work hours for nearly 10 percent of its staff in the past several weeks because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
And the cuts could go even deeper in the coming weeks, as the fiscal impacts continue to mount.
Two weeks ago, Pullman Finance Director Mike Urban estimated that the city was looking at a $2.8 million to $6.3 million budget deficit this year, given the coronavirus-related economic shutdown and projected reduction in tax collections.
During Tuesday’s Pullman City Council meeting, Urban increased that estimate to $4 million to $6.9 million.“The optimistic scenario would be about a 10 percent hit (to Pullman’s general fund revenues), while the pessimistic scenario is a 22.5 percent hit,” he said. “It all depends on how willing people are to come back to Pullman and spend money (as the coronavirus restrictions are gradually lifted).”