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Real Briefings

Committee of the Whole

BEL-CTW-2024-10-07 October 07, 2024 Committee of the Whole City of Bellingham
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The Bellingham City Council's Committee of the Whole focused primarily on the 2025 budget with significant revenue restructuring proposals and public safety department presentations. Deputy Administrator Forrest Longman outlined major revenue changes totaling approximately $8.5 million in adjustments, including permanent shifts in sales tax allocation, investment revenue sweeping, and a 50% increase in solid waste utility taxes. The most controversial proposal involves temporarily redirecting $2.9 million from the overfunded fire pension fund to general operations. Police Chief Rebecca Mertzig presented a department that has turned the corner on staffing challenges, with 15 new hires in 2024 and projections to reach positive hiring momentum for the first time in years. The department is requesting two additional officers in 2025 and plans to restore specialty units, starting with bike patrol over traffic enforcement due to budget and equipment constraints. Fire Chief Bill Hewett outlined a $6 million budget increase driven primarily by anticipated labor settlement costs, with plans to add one fire inspector and convert four firefighter positions to captains. The department continues struggling with overtime costs, projecting $2.4 million in 2024 against a $1.5 million budget allocation. The committee also approved a $1 million Economic Development Investment grant from Whatcom County to construct the Bear Creek Corridor portion of the Bellingham Mitigation Bank, a project designed to streamline environmental permitting while supporting economic development.

**AB 24271 - EDI Grant Agreement (Passed 7-0):** Council approved the interlocal agreement with Whatcom County for $1 million to construct the Bear Creek Corridor site of the Bellingham Mitigation Bank. Staff recommended approval; Council unanimously supported. This completes funding for the first phase of a project designed to provide streamlined environmental mitigation for regional development. **Budget Work Session (Information Only):** No formal votes taken on th…

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**Revenue Restructuring Strategy:** The city faces a $6 million structural deficit requiring significant revenue adjustments. Longman presented a three-pronged approach: permanent revenue increases through tax adjustments and fund sweeps, temporary measures using pension surpluses, and one-time revenues from fund repayments. The solid waste utility tax increase aims to fund waterfront remediation projects (RG Haley and Cornwall sites) while taking cleanup pressure off the street fund. **Public Safety Staffing and Priorities:** Both police and fire departments outlined hiring strategies amid budget constraints. Chief Mertzig emphasized rebuilding base patrol capacity before restoring specialty units, with bike patrol chosen over traffic enforcement due to startup costs and versatility. Chief Hewett highlighted the ongoing challenge of maintaining adequate fire insp…
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**Deputy Administrator Forrest Longman** advocated for the comprehensive revenue package as necessary to address structural budget gaps, emphasizing that permanent changes require council understanding and support. **Police Chief Rebecca Mertzig** prioritized building patrol base strength before specialty restoration, arguing for bike patrol's versatility and community engagement value over immediate traffic unit restoration. **Fire Chief Bill Hewett** stressed the need for additional fire inspection capacity to address existing building compliance, noting that construction boom focus has limited proactive inspections. **Scott Ferrell, Fire Union Preside…
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**Forrest Longman, on budget challenges:** "The intent is that there is no operational impact on the street fund... we could easily backfill that with REET too." **Police Chief Mertzig, on hiring success:** "We're now plugging away to we're going to be in the positive as we year to year versus only years past we've been under we've been we haven't been able to hire as fast as people have been leaving so now we're not in that place anymore." **Chief Mertzig, on bike patrol priority:** "A bike…
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**October 14, 2024:** Next Budget Work Session scheduled **October 21, 2024:** Next Committee of the Whole meeting **October 22, 2024:** Northwest Regional Police Academy opening, reducing training wait times **December 2024:** Budget adoption expected, enabling new position authorizations to begin January 1, 2025 **Early 2025:** RG Haley and Cornw…

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**Revenue Structure:** The city moved toward significant restructuring of revenue allocation, with sales tax shifting 8 percentage points from street/radio funds to general fund and $2 million in investment revenue being consolidated into general fund operations. **Public Safety Staffing:** Police department transitioned from deficit hiring to surplus hiring capacity, with conditional offers exceeding vacancies for the first time in years. Fire department gained authoriza…
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## Meeting Overview On the morning of October 7, 2024, the Bellingham City Council convened as a Committee of the Whole in the mayor's boardroom for what would prove to be one of their most substantive budget work sessions of the year. Mayor Kimberley Lund presided alongside seven council members, with Councilmember Edwin "Skip" Williams participating remotely. The meeting was dominated by budget discussions that laid bare the financial challenges facing Bellingham as it grapples with rising public safety costs, infrastructure needs, and revenue constraints. The session was structured around three main components: a comprehensive review of proposed revenue changes for the 2025 budget, detailed presentations from both the Police and Fire departments about their budgets and operational needs, and consideration of a significant environmental mitigation bank project. What emerged was a portrait of a city working to maintain essential services while navigating fiscal pressures that have become increasingly common in municipalities across Washington state. ## Revenue Restructuring — Navigating Budget Constraints Deputy Administrator Forrest Longman opened the budget discussion with a detailed presentation of what he termed "significant" revenue changes proposed for 2025. These changes represent both creative fiscal management and acknowledgment of the city's challenging financial position. The most substantial shift involves sales tax allocation. Currently, Bellingham divides its sales tax revenue with 60% going to the general fund, 37% to the street fund, and 3% to the radio fund. Under the 2025 proposal, the general fund allocation would increase to 68%, the street fund would drop to 32%, and radio funding would be eliminated as a separate allocation. "All of our other internal services we fund through direct charges to the departments that use them," Longman explained, noting that radio costs can be easily allocated per handset to departments that use them. This change nets the general fund an additional $1.4 million after accounting for increased radio expenses. The street fund, despite losing $1.6 million in sales tax rev…
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### Meeting Overview Bellingham's Committee of the Whole met on October 7, 2024, for a comprehensive budget work session focusing on 2025 budget changes. Staff presented significant revenue adjustments, while Police and Fire departments outlined their 2025 budget needs and recent accomplishments. The committee also approved a $1 million county grant for environmental mitigation work. ### Key Terms and Concepts **Sales Tax Reallocation:** The city proposed shifting how sales tax revenue is divided between funds - increasing the general fund's share from 60% to 68% while reducing the street fund allocation from 37% to 32%. **Investment Revenue Sweep:** A new practice of redirecting interest earnings from various city funds to the general fund, expected to generate $2 million annually while exempting utility funds and certain special purpose funds. **Solid Waste Utility Tax Increase:** A proposed 50% increase (from $11.50 to $17.25) to fund environmental remediation work, costing typical residential customers an additional $2-3 monthly. **Fire Pension Fund Shift:** Temporarily moving $2.9 million in property tax revenue from the fire pension fund (currently 134% funded) to the general fund to help balance the budget. **Cross-Staffing:** A fire department practice where the same crew operates both a ladder truck and an ambulance, meaning when they're on a medical call, the ladder truck isn't available for fire emergencies. **Mitigation Bank:** An environmental program where the city creates wetland and stream restoration credits that developers can purchase to offset unavoidable environmental impacts from their projects. **ART and CORE Programs:** Alternative Response Team (ART) and county co-responder unit that handle non-emergency mental health and social service calls, reducing police workload. **BLS Car:** Basic Life Support ambulance that handles less critical medical emergencies, allowing advanced life support units to focus on more serious calls. ### Key People at This Meeting | Name | Role / Affiliation | |---|---| | Daniel Hammill | Council President, Committee Chair |…
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Budget & Finance Public Safety Environmental Government Operations AB 24270 AB 24271 Bellingham Fire Department Bellingham Police Department City Of Bellingham Fire District 8 Whatcom County Whatcom Emergency Communications Analiese Burns Bill Hewett Daniel Hammill Forrest Longman Hannah Stone Jace Cotton Joel Pfundt Kim Lund Lisa Anderson Michael Lilliquist Rebecca Mertzig Scott Ferrell Skip Williams Bike Patrol Budget Finance Economic Development Environmental Fire Department Mitigation Bank Overtime Pension Fund Police Staffing Public Safety Umbrella Revenue Restructuring Traffic Enforcement