The PBIA’s proposed 2010 budget is $100,000, down from $143,500 this year. Downtown cleaning would take the biggest budget hit, from $50,000 to $15,000.
PBIA Board Chairwoman Katherine Mahoney said the full-time operator of the Green Machine, a downtown street sweeper, has been notified that his job is being cut. Instead, the group will contract for cleaning services. But she was hopeful things will turn around.
“Entrepreneurs, at heart, are creative and responsive,” she said. “That’s what you see when things get difficult.”
The Olympia City Council’s general government committee will review the PBIA’s budget at its next meeting, at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Council Chambers, 900 Plum St. S.E. The full council has the final say on the budget.
The cut isn’t as big as it looks. Mahoney said the budget typically is $125,000 per year. Ruthie Snyder, a city code-enforcement officer and staffer for the PBIA, said money from the 2008 budget was moved into the 2009 budget for marketing, resulting in the higher $143,500 figure.
Snyder said the group is working on two major marketing efforts:
• Workers will put up a collection of banners with images of downtown happenings along State Avenue.
• Businesses in the area will receive a marketing kit meant to standardize the look of downtown marketing, such as what appears in advertisements.
“Every single ratepayer will have what’s called a bio sheet … that will be put in all the windows and all the offices saying who owns the business, why they started the business – just putting a face on all the businesses in the downtown,” Snyder said.
Still, the organization likely will have to do with less.
Money for hanging flower baskets around downtown, a yearly ritual of spring, would be dropped to $8,500 from $10,000. Funding for a project for artist-decorated benches would be cut to $4,000 from $7,500.
Mahoney said the organization has plans for 10 benches and has money for three more, and leaders hope to stretch that to five. They are looking for other funding sources for the program.
Money for the holiday season also would be reduced, to $10,000 from $13,500. But the city’s probation work crew, which performs many cleanup activities throughout the year, would be increased to $10,000 from $8,000. Snyder said the crew would pick up some of the cleanup slack.
The Olympia City Council formed the Parking and Business Improvement Area in 2005 as a new revenue source for safety, parking, marketing and other improvements. Each business in the 70-block area is assessed a yearly fee of $150 to $750, depending on what kind of business it is and how close it is to the core. The program is run by the city and the council approves its budget, but its direction largely is shaped by a board of member businesses.
Mahoney said more than 400 businesses are in the area.
The economic situation hits close to home for Mahoney. She and her husband, Kenny Trobman, co-owned the Clubside Cafe on Fourth Avenue, which closed this year. She plans to continue on the board until the end of the year, with the blessing of the board.
“The board really asked her to stay,” Snyder said.
Mahoney has spent two years as board chairwoman and has been part of the organization since it began. She remains hopeful; her husband is running two outdoor food stands and she’s working with Community Youth Services. She also notes that several new businesses are set to arrive or recently arrived, including Sofa Gallery and a couple of new yoga studios.
“I’m extremely proud of our board,” she said. “We look forward to continuing to implement the marketing program and really bringing everybody in on it.”
Matt Batcheldor: 360-704-6869
mbatcheldor@theolympian.com
