PORT TOWNSEND — With two surprise last-minute amendments, heated debates and syntax confusion, the City Council adopted a 2005 budget Monday night.
In a 4-3 vote during a meeting in the Fort Worden State Park Chapel, council members adopted a $31.6 million budget that seemed to gain approval of the whole council a week earlier.
Deliberations Monday night before a small audience nearly stalled, however, because of an added amendment.
Making a motion to adopt the budget at the beginning of the session, Councilman Kees Kolff apparently surprised his colleagues by introducing an amendment dealing with a biennial subsidy agreement to keep parking free at Fort Worden State Park.
Kolff, seconded by Councilman Frank Benskin, asked that instead of the general fund, the $25,000 subsidy be derived from lodging tax funds, from hotel and motel room taxes.
The subsidy is subject to Lodging Tax Advising Committee recommendation on whether the city should subsidize free parking at all, Kolff added.
