Clyde Hill News: Budget plods forward
Also: Candidates respond to disclosure complaints
Clyde Hill’s public meeting this past week offered minor updates about the 2024 budget as well as a statement about the plan to get to a sustainable budget in the future.
Below, more details on what to expect, as well as news about new complaints filed against candidates for office in Clyde Hill.
Also: a warm welcome to new readers! If someone forwarded you this newsletter, subscribing is free and easy!
Disclaimer: while I am a councilmember 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.
2024 Preliminary Budget
Administration officials provided updates to the 2024 preliminary budget at a public meeting this past week. An additional hearing on the budget is planned for Tuesday, November 14th, with a vote on the adoption of the budget scheduled for Tuesday, November 28th.
Councilmember Steve Friedman noted that “revenue is less than projected expenses in the budget” in his comments about the next steps to address the fourth budget deficit in four years.
Of the budget revisions that the administration offered during the meeting, none were material with respect to the deficit. Mayor Klaas, for example, spoke about reducing the planned expenditures on city celebrations next year.
The planned 2024 budget also includes an increase of ~$13,000 to property taxes that will be spread across Clyde Hill’s ~1,100 households. The city currently collects about $1.3m in property taxes from its residents and has the authority to raise this tax levy by at most 1%, or ~$13,000.
Of the property taxes that Clyde Hill residents pay to King County, about 4.3% goes to the City of Clyde Hill:
Information about King County property tax exemptions and deferrals for seniors is available here (link).
Candidates respond to disclosure complaints
There have been three new complaints filed this past week with Washington’s Public Disclosure Commission (PDC)1 related to the races for city council seats, bringing the total number of complaints to four. Ballots for the election are due Tuesday, November 7.
For context, the purpose in reporting on these complaints here is to provide voters and the community with the latest and most up-to-date information about candidates. The current complaints appear unresolved at this time, and the PDC’s timeline to make a determination is 90 days (link). In the meantime, the candidates’ responses to the complaints might be of interest to voters.
Earlier this month, Ashley Eckel, running for council seat 2, responded promptly to a complaint claiming that she is “under-reporting her income and may also be receiving gifts in kind in the form of no interest loans.” Here’s an excerpt from her letter explaining her error; you can read her complete response here (link):
Since then, a Clyde Hill resident filed three complaints with the PDC against candidates after endorsing their opponents:
Mark Kroese, running for council seat 4, in his response to this complaint acknowledged his oversight and explained the steps he has taken to remediate the issue. Here’s an excerpt from his letter; you can read his complete letter here (link):
The other two complaints are less than a week old, and responses to them are not yet visible on the PDC’s website.
Thank you for reading! Please forward and share with your friends and neighbors, and if you are not already getting this newsletter, subscribing is both easy and free.
Dean Hachamovitch
The PDC is the Washington state agency that “enforces the state’s disclosure and campaign finances laws, and provides public access to information about lobbying activities, the financial affairs of elected and appointed public officials, and campaign contributions and expenditures,” according to Wikipedia (link).