The city of Port Townsend’s 2023 preliminary budget is in, with a major focus on hiring new city staff, buying new equipment and resources, making use of new revenues, and more.

City officials said the 2023 revenue forecast “reflects a conservative approach” that balances economic recovery from the pandemic with a shifting economy.

For 2023, the city anticipates $49.8 million in total revenue and $48.8 million in total expenses, according to city documents.

Regarding the focus for new staff, the city plans to grow its staff from 95.2 full time equivalent (FTE) positions to 100.7 FTE positions.

The new budgeted positions include a long-range planner, communications and marketing manager, deputy police chief, human resources assistant, in-house behavioral health navigator, housing grant coordinator, and five seasonal workers for the parks, streets, and facilities departments.

The new communications and marketing manager position will be a full-time role with an expected salary of $90,000 to $110,000, though the city council must approve the salary once finalized, according to City Manager John Mauro.

“We continue to have vacancies in the organization, not as many as we had earlier this year, but there are still a few there,” said Connie Anderson, finance director for the city, regarding the push for more staff members.

The city will purchase new equipment and resources to be used, such as a new, $65,000 mini-excavator to replace the current, aging machinery.

Also included is $178,000 to purchase two new police vehicles along with $25,000 to replace a police vehicle in the current fleet.

New forms of savings and revenues will aid the city’s “conservative” financial approach with services such as road surfacing, traffic calming treatments, LED lighting, and facility repairs and maintenance to create future savings. As for revenues, the city’s water-use agreement with the Port Townsend Paper Mill, signed earlier this year, will provide new capital for the city.

Port Townsend’s banked capacity funds increased by around $300,000 for 2023 and will be used to deliver on the city’s planned street projects, according to city documents.

The city will also utilize its general fund reserve balance (currently higher than the 8- to 15-percent policy) to pay off around $1.6 million in bond debts.

On real estate excise tax (REET) funds, Councilmember Aislinn Diamanti noted the city of Seattle’s November report, which estimated a $82.3 million revenue shortfall for the coming year.

“Seattle just announced that they are expecting a decline in REET next year, and we are not budgeting that way,” Diamanti said.

REET revenues come from the sales of homes and other property.

“We did budget REET to continue to come in strong,” Anderson said in response.

The revenues will primarily be used for debt payments, with very little being used for any capital projects, Anderson added.

“That’s more of that conservative approach; let’s make sure we have enough money, and then when Public Works needs a little extra for doing something, we’ve got the money in the bank.”

Currently, the city anticipates around $700,000 in REET revenues, which is a 28 percent increase from last year.

“It might be a year before ours starts to dip,” Public Works Director Steve King said on the potential drop-off.

City staff are also set to receive 5 percent pay raises across all departments following union negotiations, according to Mauro.

The city council was scheduled to discuss the preliminary budget in its Nov. 14 special meeting, with public hearings on revenues, the property tax levy, and budget adoption.

After that, the council will meet again on Dec. 5 for a public hearing on the budget, with a vote to adopt the spending plan to follow.