Clyde Hill News: Residents weigh in on budget
Property tax increase emerges as key option
Residents attending Tuesday afternoon’s public budget meeting provided extensive feedback on the process and progress addressing the city’s long-standing deficit issues. Clarity, accountability, and trust were key themes in the residents’ feedback.
Mayor Steve Friedman ended the meeting on a positive note, energized to make progress:
“What I’m hearing is ‘there’s not enough specificity… you’re not really telling me how we’re going to solve our problems….’
We need to come back and tell you exactly what [we’re going to do]… we need to present a plan. We need to say: this is what we’re going to do to solve a problem; this is how we’re going to solve it. This is what we’re going to in 2026....” (link)
Context and analysis, below, along with other resident feedback about city park construction.
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.
Situation report: Clyde Hill’s finances
The short version is that Clyde Hill’s city government is in an unsustainable situation: the city’s planned expenditures exceed its planned revenues in 2025, as they did in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024:
The city will run out of financial reserves to fund this kind of spending in a few years depending on several factors, according to a city document (link) published as part of Tuesday’s meeting.
Mayor and staff draft and propose the budget, and the city council has until December to suggest revisions and adopt a 2026 city budget:
The plan: a process
Mayor Friedman is leading a public “Financial Sustainability Plan” process, described here (link).
This process is ahead of and separate from the city’s regular formal budget process, which will happen later this year, according to Mayor Friedman.
The planning of the current additional process kicked off in November 2024 (link) with the goal of “Balance Revenues and Expenses in General Fund no later than 2026.” (link)
The plan for a process emerged in response to unprecedented and strong feedback from residents about the city’s planned 2025 budget deficit during October, November, and December of 2024. (link)
Residents respond
Below, a brief recap of the public comments. I encourage you to read and watch and assess for yourself; links to the original material follow this summary.
Clarity
Long-time resident David B. Smith requested clearer and more explicit communication to residents about the city’s budget situation. According to his comments, he doesn’t think that “most of the community knows what’s really going on.”
Nancy Dammkoehler, another long-time resident, asked Mayor Friedman to include a “bullet-point summary of the budget” issues in a newsletter to the residents, agreeing with Mr. Smith: “as David said, nobody knows what's going on.”
Accountability
Mr. Smith’s comments also noted that the city administrator’s responsibilities include “ensuring financial soundness” of the city’s budget, according to the city. “That didn’t happen,” according to Mr. Smith.
Resident Carl Picciotto’s comments spoke to unclear accountability for solving the budget deficit.
Trustworthiness
Mayor Katy Harris of Yarrow Point offered public comment at the meeting, noting “a surprising number” for how much Clyde Hill expects from Yarrow Point in payment in the 2026 budgeting tool. She politely noted that “Clearly, we still have some disconnects” to address.
The Town of Yarrow Point pays the City of Clyde Hill for police services. Mayor Friedman noted that “this is not a formal budget presentation — it’s a tool to work through,” while Clyde Hill’s Finance Director and City Administrator each offered separate explanations.
Clyde Hill Resident Jared Wheeler commented about the confusion around the Yarrow Point police payment as well: “a number that doesn’t make any sense and jumps out... should be caught before it gets to this group.”
In response to the additional explanations, he added
“your answer does not align with your document, and as a resident I would encourage you to find a different way to present information so that there is trust and confidence.”
Original material
Video with captions and a transcript of the public comments is available on YouTube here (link) with timestamps for convenience:
Also, here are links to the public comments emailed to the city ahead of the meeting from Ed Oeltjen (link), Carl Picciotto (link), Julie Beffa (link), and Jill Zimmerman (link).
City park path construction feedback
Ms Zimmerman’s public comment about the budget (link) also noted that:
“the construction at Clyde Hill park has taken WAY too long. I don’t understand the incompetency of whoever it is the city hired. There really is no excuse for this in my opinion.”
On a recent walk through that area, I noticed this sign from eight months ago setting expectations that the project should last four to six weeks:
Next meeting: April 17
The city’s next public budget meeting is April 17th at 4:00PM:
You can send feedback, questions, and comments in advance:
"Mayor Friedman" <Mayor@clydehill.org>; "Councilmember Wissner-Slivka" <council1@clydehill.org>; "Councilmember Sinwell" <council2@clydehill.org>; "Councilmember Andonian" <council3@clydehill.org>; "Councilmember Olson" <council4@clydehill.org>; "Councilmember Hachamovitch" <council5@clydehill.org>
For example, following up from the most recent meeting, Clyde Hill resident and budget task force member Neha Monga expressed concern “about the pace of progress so far” in an email to Mayor Friedman and other budget task force members, writing:
“It’s taken over three months to bring a few preliminary options forward, and there are still key gaps in goals, data, and decision-making criteria.”
In the email, she identified options offered to residents that “lacked the data needed to properly assess” and act on them.
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Dean Hachamovitch