The city’s proposed $4.4 million budget for next year was preliminarily approved Monday night by the Langley City Council.

Final approval is expected at the council’s next meeting on Dec. 21. By law, the city must have a balanced budget in place by the end of the year.

The budget, while larger than this year’s $3.8 million, still reflects the steep drop in revenue in the last half of this year, a trend that is expected to continue, said Debbie Mahler, Langley finance director.

The new budget provides no salary increases for the city’s 17 employees, reduces work hours for several of them and eliminates three part-time contract positions.

The budget shows some increases and some decreases. The general fund, for example, has been reduced to reflect the drop in revenue this year, Mahler said.

“Revenues were up in the first half of the year, but they’ve been going down ever since,” Mahler said.

“We really need to get out the message to shop locally,” Councilman Russell Sparkman said.