Clyde Hill News: Residents file petition against record budget deficit ahead of Tuesday vote
Also: King County emergency agency seeks resident feedback on storm damages; city’s enforcement struggle with rat issue continues
Seventeen residents, including a former city council member, submitted a petition asking the city council to enact a balanced budget. The petition comes ahead of a scheduled vote at Tuesday night’s city council meeting on a proposed 2025 budget with a record deficit:
A discussion of the proposed “Financial Sustainability Roadmap” (link) for the city is also on Tuesday night’s agenda. The roadmap now includes goals for the committee. Details on how the larger 2026 budget process is different from past years’ and the plan for resident feedback and engagement are still to come.
Finally, as a horrendous rat issue for Clyde Hill residents continues into its third month, city staff will ask the city council to update a law (link) related to enforcement. The city administrator warned that the new ordinance will not “be a silver bullet that’s going to necessarily solve our problem,” (link) adding that the city would need “to have a budget to actually do abatement work.” (link)
City officials have been informed that the trash problem underlying the rat problem is visible on maps:
More details and analysis below, but first: via the City of Medina’s newsletter:
King County Emergency Management wants to know if the November 17-25 windstorm caused you any damage (this could include damage from the bomb cyclone, straight-line winds, flooding, mudslides, and/or landslides). This information may help Washington request state and/or federal government disaster assistance. If your primary residence or your business was damaged by the weather, we’d like to hear from you. Here is the link to report your damages. (link)
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.
Residents confront budget deficit
Ahead of some analysis, let’s start with the big picture and context.
By state law, the city council has to enact a 2025 budget by the end of the year.
The city budget is, effectively, a “law” that authorizes how much the Mayor and city staff can spend given expected revenues. It looks like any other city ordinance… you can see the four pages of the proposed budget ordinance here (link):
The city council can revise the budget during the year by enacting another ordinance. For example, the Mayor and staff asked the city council to revise the 2022 budget in July of that year (link) as information available about city’s revenues and expenditures changed.
The record $229K budget deficit for 2025 in the General Fund continues the city’s streak of deficits.
The General Fund deficit in the latest proposed budget for 2025 has edged up to ~$229K from the ~$198K figure cited at the November 12 council meeting:
At the same time, the deficit is still a record deficit for Clyde Hill:
Technically, the budget is balanced
State law requires cities to enact balanced budgets.
Technically, Clyde Hill’s budgets have been balanced by the use of reserves and one-time money. From Mayor Steve Friedman’s “2025 Preliminary Budget Message:”
“it is important to recognize that balancing our budget using reserves and one-time money is ultimately unsustainable….” (link)
The nuance and subtlety here have been lost on residents. Clyde Hill’s Assistant City Administrator called attention to this issue at a November discussion of the budget:
Can I ask that we be really careful with the term “balanced budget” because I do think there’s a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation in the community about what that means. We are statutorily required to have a balanced budget every year….
Let’s just be really careful that we don’t give the impression that we’ve been negligent the last four or five years in terms of having a balanced budget because that’s technically not the case…. (link)
Residents’ clear negative feedback
In a break from previous years, Clyde Hill residents have provided abundant public comment, asking questions and making suggestions during several public meetings since the first public hearing on the budget on October 7.
The public comments from residents have been consistent in expressing frustration at unacknowledged feedback and unanswered questions. For example, here’s a public comment last month from a resident about a basic question about city staffing levels:
I also would like to know if there is a commitment to answer my question of “Why do we need 30%+ more people than it took several years ago to perform the same mission or if the mission has changed can you explain clearly what has changed and how it impacts headcount.”
I have asked this several times now and it has yet to be addressed. As I stated in the meeting until this is answered the only thing I can logically conclude is that the headcount is not correct either as it relates to quantity, skillsets, or potentially both. (link)
In October, the Mayor and staff declined to offer alternatives or options to a proposed budget with an even larger deficit (link). During November, Councilmembers Lisa Wissner-Slivka and Steve Sinwell pursued deficit reduction directly with staff. During that time, City Administrator Dean Rohla downplayed the urgency, noting
“We have substantial reserves that we can live on for a significant number of years…” (link)
and declaring that “We are as lean as we can be” (link) in reference to efforts to find more savings in the city administration’s budget.
Analysis: symptom or problem?
Some residents have suggested that the budget — while a problem — is actually a symptom of deeper management problems.
For example, consider how budget communications have shown undeniable issues: the quality and clarity of budget information, the urgency of the problem and the solution path, and how that information has been delivered to residents over the past several years.
These problems are not unique to the budget. Earlier this month, a resident’s public comments (link) provided many examples and evidence of broader judgment and management issues beyond the recent rat issue, the lingering and troubled Comprehensive Plan (link), and the backlog of municipal code update issues (link).
Significant to residents
Several residents have noted that in the context of millions of dollars of city reserves, a ~$229K city deficit in 2025 isn’t operationally significant.
The deficit is significant symbolically, according to one resident, because of the many underlying problems (communication, expectation setting, follow-through, etc.) revealed by — and not unique to — the budget.
Roadmap ahead
A petition (link) signed by seventeen residents, including former Councilmember Bruce Dodds, asks the council to consider a budget where expenditures are limited to the available revenues as a “forcing function” (link) on the city. A vote on such a budget is not currently on the agenda.
An updated “Financial Sustainability Planning” roadmap (link) is also on the agenda Tuesday night.
Other topics on the agenda
The agenda for Tuesday night’s council meeting also includes:
A discussion of recommended actions (link) related to finishing the city’s Comprehensive Plan.
An update on draft legislation (link) related to complying with state mandates related to “Middle Housing” and Accessory Dwelling Units.
A vote on new fees (link) related to registering automated alarm systems and false alarm violations.
A vote on a new labor contract for Clyde Hill PD.
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Dean Hachamovitch