Clyde Hill News: Budget crisis continues after special meeting
Focus returns to task force to solve problem
Tuesday night’s special council meeting was more of a “town hall” discussion of the budget crisis than a meeting following an agenda, as residents came to city hall with questions about what’s going on.
There was a lot of public comment that shifted in intensity and direction over the course of the meeting as more information became available.
That shift reflected an in-depth walk through of a document, “Professional leadership and the budget crisis” (link), that offers a point of view on addressing the city’s financial challenges. The document reflects feedback and discussion from some residents as well as the majority opinion of the city council.
A quick recap below, as I am scrambling to prepare for a “once in a lifetime” trip with family and friends. I will be offline for about two weeks.
Disclaimer: while I am a council member on the Clyde Hill City Council, I write this newsletter in my capacity as an individual resident. Any opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily the position of the city. City information and references here are from public sources. I welcome email responses — and if the topic is about city business I will respond from my city email account.
It’s the budget
The very short version of the meeting involves the city’s budget crisis. Tuesday night’s meeting highlighted differences of opinion about what’s being done and what should be done.
The city has three or four years of runway ahead of it to address the growing gap between its revenue and expenditures.
The city projects a $4.3 million deficit over the next five years (link).
The deficit problem has gone on for some time. Some residents have accused the city of kicking the can down the road for years:
To offer my own personal journey on this matter:
In 2021, I served on the city’s Budget Advisory Committee as a resident. The meetings were mostly city staff presenting and not much discussion or feedback.
In 2022, I voted to enact the budget because I expected there was some plan to address the issue that I simply wasn’t privy to yet.
In 2023, it became clear to me that there was no actual work making progress on this topic. The council voted that it “will only consider budget proposals for 2024 that eliminate the city’s future operating deficit” (link). Based on the promise of the budget sustainability work of then-Cm Friedman and then-Cm Bruce Jones, I voted to enact the budget along with then-Cm Friedman, newly-sworn-in Cm Steve Sinwell, then-Cm Kim Muromoto, and then-Cm Bruce Jones.
In 2024, the budget process operated in “stealth mode” from January to September. In September, Mayor Friedman informed the council and the community that he was surprised with the magnitude of the deficit, that the sustainability plan was not enough, and that he wanted help.
In December 2024, I voted against the budget as the council voted 3-2 to enact another deficit after unprecedented resident engagement across seven special public meetings. (link)
Public scrutiny
There were lots of emotions and recriminations, name-calling, and ad hominem attacks at Tuesday night’s meeting.
Breaking an impasse
Looking at the city’s budget deficit history, it’s not clear if there’s evidence that six elected part-time resident volunteers can successfully address the financial challenges of a small city.
One discussion that emerged at Tuesday night’s meeting was that the legislative branch of government has relatively few options to address this challenge facing Clyde Hill’s residents.
Next steps
Residents can attend a “Financial Sustainability Open House” event on Thursday, March 6th, at 2:00 PM.
The Financial Sustainability Task Force meeting has been moved out to Tuesday, March 25th, at 2:00 PM. The agenda for that meeting has not yet been posted.
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Dean Hachamovitch