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Council clears special budget ordinance to account for SHREC payments, funds Recruit Academy No. 2
Summary
Council staff briefed and council approved a special budget ordinance to record retroactive Spokane Regional Emergency Communications (SHREC) payments covering 2022–2024 and to establish a Recruit Academy No. 2 budget funded by those receipts and leftover academy monies.
City staff told the Spokane City Council at its Oct. 20 agenda review meeting that Spokane Regional Emergency Communications (SHREC) made retroactive payments to the city for use of the city's CAD system and for occupying space in the Combined Communications Building. The payments, received in August, covered calendar years 2022 through 2024 and exceeded the 2025 budget, prompting a special budget ordinance to account for the excess and to establish a budget for Recruit Academy No. 2.
The ordinance records the incoming funds and sets a budget for Recruit Academy No. 2 at approximately $715,000, the staff estimate based on the cost of the previous four academies. Staff said the city expects to combine the SHREC receipts with roughly $150,000 carried over from Recruit Academy No. 1 to reach a right-sized budget. Staff attributed a lower-than-expected cost for Academy No. 1 to a higher washout rate among recruits.
Councilmembers asked for clarification about earlier draft numbers that showed a lower allocation (around $300,000). Jessica Stratton, speaking on behalf of the administration, explained the discrepancy was a timing error in the initial SBO: staff originally believed the receipts covered a different span of years, and after confirming the payments covered 2022–2024 the available amount increased.
Council later moved to suspend rules and adopt the amendment without automatic deferral so the special budget ordinance (C36771) could be acted on at the Oct. 27 agenda as requested by staff. The council vote to suspend rules and adopt the amendment was recorded as carried with council saying "aye." The motion and the rule suspension were described as consolidated actions during the agenda review.
The ordinance creates an accounting entry for the SHREC receipts and establishes the Recruit Academy No. 2 budget; staff said additional details about academy timing and recruiting will follow as the program is scheduled.
City staff and council emphasized the purpose was bookkeeping (to account for monies received in excess of the adopted budget) and to seed the next recruit academy. The council did not set finer implementation dates in the Oct. 20 session; staff noted the academy timing will follow standard recruitment scheduling and will appear on the Oct. 27 draft agenda for formal consideration if needed.
