Clyde Hill News: Deficit to exceed $800,000 according to city’s “first draft” of 2025 budget
Also: Clyde Hill PD responds to resident inquiry about shooting a dog; “juveniles” caught removing pride flags
The city’s operational expenditures will exceed revenues by over $830,000 in 2025, according to the first public estimate shared by Clyde Hill’s City Administrator and Finance Director last week:
The September 10 city council meeting agenda includes a discussion of the budget. While city staff have proposed this budget, there are no additional materials framing the planned discussion. It’s not clear what feedback city staff are looking for from the public or council, or where the discussion will go.
State laws mandate public hearings about the budget in October and November (link). In the meantime, residents can send email with feedback or suggestions to the city, or offer public comment at council meetings ahead of the public hearings.
More details about the first draft of the budget, police activity in Clyde Hill in August, a public hearing about the view dispute resolution process, and more, below.
But first: a stunning photograph from Clyde Hill of a crescent moon over Seattle:
Last week, I met local photographer Steve Rice (link) who took several stunning photos from the sidewalk on 92nd Ave NE, showing off the views from Clyde Hill.
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.
2025 Budget “first draft”
City staff shared their “first draft” of the 2025 budget with residents on the city’s Budget Advisory Committee (link) on Tuesday September 4th. A discussion of the same material is on the agenda for next week’s city council meeting (link).
While a deficit was expected again in 2025, the magnitude of the increase in the deficit appears to have surprised elected officials and the public. The city ran an operational deficit in 2020, ’21, ’22, and ’23, and expects to run a deficit in 2024 (link):
As one resident on the Budget Advisory Committee noted, “This is not a budget. It’s a spending plan. There is no budget.”
For context, city budget discussions typically focus on the “General Fund” because that pays for operational services to residents (like police, fire, snow and storm response, building inspections and code enforcement, etc.). The other funds (Reserve, Retainage, etc.) do not have significant issues:
Every year, there’s an apparent deficit for the “Capital Projects Fund (300)” that never materializes, as the city staff does not plan to spend this amount.
What changed
The city projects that, year-over-year, revenue will be down almost $131K while expenditures will increase by more than $517K. Together, these will drive the deficit up by almost $648K:
The materials from city staff offer a great deal of detail on year-over-year revenue fluctuations but do not offer an overall story about the ~2.3% decline in revenues.
The almost 9% increase in spending reflects rising costs across many areas including salaries and benefits, public safety, and insurance. (For details, please see this footnote.1)
Staff also proposed several spending cuts, including ending the city’s movie night and eliminating the staff-council retreat. (A separate “Pending questions” document (link) in this month’s meeting packet notes that six months after the staff-council retreat, “Council has not received an Offsite report out. The City spent tax payer money on the effort” and asks “what can the city show for it?”)
What remains the same
City staff’s approach to the budget has been consistent, and has consistently produced the same result: a deficit.
Based on the budget plans and communications, there is no evidence of consideration of what the city could do differently:
It’s as if there is only one approach to spending — the current way — and simply no other options. For example: the city administrator recently made clear that the city needs to hire land use code and planning expertise. The city also recently lost its Public Works leader. One approach here involves rethinking job responsibilities given the city’s needs. Instead, the city has chosen to recruit a new Public Works leader using the same job description and scope as before. (link)
Each of the last five city budgets has acknowledged the problem:
“Balancing our budget using reserves and one-time money is ultimately unsustainable,” according to the 2024 Budget Message. (link)
and denied agency to address the problem:
“the City has little discretion to reduce general fund costs” (link, slide 14).
and then signaled a major tax hike as the solution. The city’s previous mayor called a property tax hike the city’s “easiest option.” (link)
There has not been an analysis shared of how large a tax hike is needed and how long that tax hike will address the deficit before another hike is needed.
Next steps: “something’s got to give”
City staff have not publicly communicated specific dates or next steps for refining the plan on the way to the city council’s vote on a final budget in November.
There are many details left to work out in the current draft. For example, one item in the budget involves spending funds on an “Improved technology solution for Community Engagement.” That item covers just the technology; it’s not clear who will write the material that engages the community or listen to the community’s response. The “Pending questions” document (link) in this month’s packet has other relevant unresolved issues, like the timing and next steps for the city’s proposed stormwater utility.
There is also a proposal for an additional sales tax increase (based on a “Transportation Benefit District”); no additional details are available:
August Police blotter
The full police report from Chief Kolling is available here (link). In addition to the regularly occurring incidents like driving with license suspended, speeding, and drone assists to agencies in neighboring cities, a few items of note:
Resident called to complain about neighbor’s dog coming into yard and asked if it was ok to use lethal force to protect his family. Advised it is not authorized to shoot the dog and to look into installing a fence or gates
Juveniles removed Pride Flags from the [reporting person]’s yard and were caught on camera. Officers spoke to the parent(s) of juveniles and they will handle it.
Resident arrived home to a broken window and some footprints in the house. Officers verified there was no one in the home and residents reported an empty safe was the only thing taken.
Public hearing and more
Beyond the budget and police update, there are many other items on the agenda for Tuesday night’s council meeting (link). The Mayor’s Report (link) is always worth reading.
There will be a public hearing on a proposed change to the city’s view ordinance code (link). Previously, the council agreed to move ahead with drafting this change by a 4-1 vote. If the change is approved, the city’s Hearing Examiner, and not its planning commission, will make decisions when residents bring a view complaint to the city.
During the previous discussion in July, the city attorney called out that if the city does not make this change
“there’s also a risk of having inexperienced, non-judicial, non-judge Commissioners trying to run, essentially, a courtroom… and you can end up with appeals and they cost even more money than having a Hearing Examiner.” (link)
The city attorney also noted that hearing a complaint related to specific properties is quite different from the planning commission’s typical role of advising on legislation.
The council will also consider a request from police related to misuse of the 911 system (link). Under discussion is whether to proceed with a city ordinance to enable Clyde Hill police to “enforce consequences for those who abuse 911.”
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Dean Hachamovitch
Some details from slides 16 and 17 about “2025 Key Expenditure Assumptions:”
Salaries and benefits
“3.6% CPI [consumer price index] increase” on non-police union employee wages.
Police salaries and benefits are expected to increase as part of a new police contract (“CBA” or collective bargaining agreement) under active negotiation. It’s not clear what specific figures the city staff used for their cost projections in this draft of the budget.
“Increase of 5%-6% in medical insurance rates” for city employees.
Public safety
“Above average increases in Court Fees & Public Defenders.”
911 dispatch services (NORCOM) increasing by 19.6%, as well as an increase in the cost of Bellevue Fire and EMS.
“New technology requirements for FLOCK, Drones, Body-worn Cameras, Public Records Requests.”
Insurance and negotiations
The cost of the city’s insurance (via Washington Cities Insurance Authority) is increasing 6.8%.
The cost of 520 Lid Negotiations with WSDOT continues as that issue remains unresolved.