# Bellingham City Council Confronts Budget Crisis with New Sales Tax The Bellingham City Council's October 6, 2025 meeting was dominated by a stark fiscal reality: the city faces significant budget constraints that threaten core services. Over the course of a marathon 12-hour day that began with budget work sessions in the morning and concluded with a regular evening meeting, council members grappled with difficult choices while ultimately approving a controversial new sales tax to avoid even deeper cuts. The evening's most consequential action was the unanimous 7-0 approval of the "Safe and Stable Community Sales Tax" — a one-tenth of one percent sales tax increase that will generate approximately $3.9 million annually for criminal justice purposes. The vote came after extensive public testimony and debate that revealed both the necessity of the tax and community concerns about its impact. ## The Budget Crisis Unveiled Deputy City Administrator Forrest Longman opened the evening's first public hearing on the 2026 budget by painting a sobering picture. The proposed $543 million citywide budget, with a $128 million general fund, represents the culmination of years of difficult adjustments as the city has been "spending down reserves in the hopes of economic uptick" — a strategy that can no longer continue. "We don't have the ability to do that any longer and now we need to live within our means," Longman told the council, outlining three guiding principles: ensuring financial stability, focusing on work only the city can do, and leveraging dedicated resources. The budget calls for reducing over 40 positions and freezing additional ones, with no programmatic expansions. Without the new sales tax, Longman warned, the city would face cutting an additional 25 to 35 positions across all general fund departments — a reduction that "would obviously severely diminish" the city's ability to provide services. The city's financial chart showed a stark visual: reserves that would be depleted by the end of 2027 without intervention. Even with the proposed sales tax and position cuts, the city achieves only a technical balance with a $31,000 surplus that relies on a $1.5 million one-time revenue transfer — meaning an ongoing deficit of $1.5 million remains. ## Public Voices: Support and Skepticism The public hearing drew six speakers who reflected the community's mixed feelings about the proposed tax increase. Their testimony revealed deep appreciation for city services alongside pointed questions about efficiency and fairness. Adam Bellinger, who said he has lived in Bellingham his entire life, offered compelling support for the sales tax, recounting personal experiences that highlighted the police department's role. "In February, I talked a man down off a freeway overpass from jumping," he testified. "And the first responder who showed up was first one BPD officer and then another. And I was really grateful to see them there in a timely manner because if that guy decided to get back up on the overpass to jump, I would have been on my own to stop him." Bellinger's testimony carried particular weight because he acknowledged having been "on the other end of a gun by a BPD officer long time ago," yet still strongly supported the department. He noted that groceries are exempt from sales tax in Washington, meaning "people won't have to decide between paying for groceries and or paying their rent because of this tax." Brian Armstrong echoed support while advocating for expanded volunteer programs, arguing that "Bellingham wants to help" and that volunteers could handle many projects currently requiring expensive staff. He noted that the Greenways volunteer program, despite its success, had been reduced from "three positions, I believe two or three with one" while the park steward program remains suspended due to staff capacity issues. Lyal Sorensen brought a different perspective, supporting the tax while highlighting broader criminal justice challenges. He noted there are "4,267 reasons to vote for this tax tonight, and that's the active warrants in the Bellingham Municipal Court." Sorensen advocated for a "high-utilizer initiative" focused on the most prolific offenders, arguing that "it's not compassionate to allow people to accrue 30 or 40 unchecked misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors." The most pointed criticism came from Brian Gas, who challenged the city's efficiency and questioned whether tax increases were justified. He noted that the planning department "does have over 100% more employees since the last time we did the urban growth thing in 2005" yet "they're still issuing about the same number of permits every year." Gas argued that permitting costs had increased 60-80% while output remained flat, suggesting the city should "cut a little bit harder" before asking for new taxes. Anita Lomonas raised concerns about library budget cuts and questioned why highly paid staff members could choose whether to accept a 3% raise while others faced job elimination entirely. "Those people are told you no longer have a position because we don't have the money for you," she noted. "So why is it that certain people who are paid very well still have the choice of receiving a 3% increase?" ## The Sales Tax Debate: From Criminal Justice to Safe Communities The evening's most significant legislative action began with what seemed like a straightforward criminal justice tax but evolved into something broader. Councilmember Michael Lilliquist proposed amending the ordinance to rename it the "Safe and Stable Community Sales Tax," following a model used by King County. "We've received a fair amount of feedback on this," Lilliquist explained. "Some people were concerned about what the money would be used for. I think we've done a good job of clarifying that the purpose is not to add, but the purpose is to prevent more serious cuts." The council had prepared a detailed list of approximately $3 million worth of programs that would be eligible for funding under the tax, including public defense, domestic violence services, the GRACE program ($400,000 annually), community court, and home monitoring diversion services ($1 million annually). These programs, Lilliquist emphasized, "reduce the need for first responders" and represent community values the city wants to preserve. Councilmember Dan Hamill highlighted programs like diversion and re-entry services, intervention programs, and the Alternative Response Team that "are things that we have heard back from largely from the community that those are community values that we want to see." He stressed that the tax wasn't to start new programs but to continue existing ones that might otherwise face cuts. Councilmember Skip Williams called on Police Chief Rebecca Mertzig to emphasize Bellingham's unique qualification for this tax. Chief Mertzig noted that Bellingham is "one of 10 cities and then King County making it 11 total agencies throughout the state" eligible for the tax, demonstrating that "programmatically we are doing what we say that we're trying to do, which is provide the support services and the alternative services to help people turn their lives around." Councilmember Hannah Stone inquired about compliance with tax requirements and potential grant funding. Chief Mertzig confirmed that 33% of police staff had completed Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training, exceeding the 25% requirement, with training completed just the Friday before the meeting. The tax increase will bring Bellingham's sales tax rate to 9.1%, still lower than 72 other jurisdictions in Washington state. The council unanimously approved both the amendment to rename the tax and the final ordinance. ## Beyond the Budget: Planning for Growth and Infrastructure While budget concerns dominated the meeting, the council also advanced other significant initiatives that will shape Bellingham's future. The committee reports revealed ongoing work on the Bellingham Plan, the city's comprehensive plan for growth over the next 20 years. Mayor Kim Lund noted in her report that "it will guide how our city grows over the next 20 years and how we plan intentionally for more housing, jobs, and services." The plan will come before council for adoption by the end of the year, with work sessions scheduled throughout the fall. The Public Works and Natural Resources Committee approved a $5.3 million contract for emergency generator replacement at the Post Point Resource Recovery Plant. The project, which will take 10-14 months for equipment delivery alone, represents a significant infrastructure investment funded through the sewer fund. Councilmember Stone noted the project's scale requires compliance with apprenticeship program requirements, reflecting the city's commitment to workforce development. The committee also received a presentation on new speed limit setting policies that will align with national standards. The city plans to reduce the range of speed limits used within city limits, ranging from 20 to 45 mph, with potential policy considerations for 20 mph limits on all residential streets and 10 mph "shared streets" where pedestrians and bicycles take priority. ## Routine Business and Looking Ahead The council efficiently processed several routine items, including a budget amendment creating a new fund for the $8.5 million Central Library renovation project. The project will combine private donations, REAP funds, and state grants, requiring a dedicated fund for proper accounting. The consent agenda included a notable item updating the agreement with the South Correctional Entity (SCORE) facility in Des Moines, which provides overflow jail services. Councilmember Hamill noted the city uses this facility minimally — only 12 people transported this year — at considerable cost in officer time, reflecting ongoing discussions about keeping offenders in the local community with robust behavioral health services. ## The Human Cost of Hard Choices Throughout the evening, the human impact of budget decisions remained visible. The Alternative Response Team, an unarmed program that responded to 2,129 calls this year (an increase of 160), represents the kind of innovative approach the city wants to preserve. The GRACE program, which has been "incredibly successful at reducing visits to the emergency room," and the LEAD program, which reduces "jail stays as well as emergency room visits," exemplify programs that save money while serving people more effectively. Yet the fire department will have no recruit academy in 2026, allowing reduction of four firefighter positions through attrition. The police department will eliminate one records management position and freeze three officer positions plus a public information officer role, even as calls for service increased to 70,600 — a 760-call increase over the previous year. "It's been a long day," Council President Hollie Huthman noted near the end of the meeting. "I think we're kind of forgetting how all this works at this point." Her comment captured both the exhaustion of the marathon session and the weight of the decisions made. As the meeting concluded at 8:35 p.m., council members could point to averting deeper cuts while acknowledging that fundamental challenges remain. The new sales tax provides breathing room, but with an ongoing structural deficit and growing service demands, more difficult decisions likely await in future budget cycles. The evening demonstrated both the city's commitment to maintaining services and the increasingly constrained fiscal reality facing local governments across the region.