Edmonds Mayor Dave Earling on Thursday signed the ordinance approving the city’s 2019 budget, which funds more than $109 million in capital projects, special projects and operations. The budget will become effective Jan. 1, 2019.

In a city news release issued Friday, Earling said he approved the budget despite his concern regarding the cumulative financial impact of the Edmonds City Council’s “numerous, late-term additions to the 2019 budget.”

However, the mayor said, “there is simply so much that is good in this budget. It covers a full range of our mutual goals, including public safety, transportation, recreational, environmental, housing, utilities, arts and culture and many other priorities.”

The city’s combined operational and capital budget totals $109,471,322.

In his budget address delivered to the council in October, Earling said that with the current U.S. economic expansion finishing its 10^th year and approaching a historic record, an economic downturn may be on the horizon in the next year or two. The mayor also recalled the employee layoffs and budget cutbacks he had to implement in 2011, shortly after taking office.

“It is precisely for these reasons that the many additions to the 2019 Budget have given me pause, even though I certainly concur that the projects they fund are meritorious and worthy of City financial support,” he said.

“As mayor and the chief executive officer of this municipal corporation, together with my staff, I will diligently and efficiently execute the council’s unanimously adopted 2019 Budget, including all of its programs, projects and activities,” Earling said. “That’s my job and I take it seriously.”