Council Roundup: Public weighs in on budget priorities

Published July 12 2024

Plus, Experience Bellevue! recap, emergency management overview and commission appointees

The City Council this week held the first of three public hearings on the 2025-2026 Budget. More than 20 people spoke at the hearing to share their input and interest about where the city might prioritize investment in the coming budget cycle. Individual elements of the budget will be explored during study sessions over the coming months, with the 2025-2026 Budget expected to be adopted by the council in November.

In the weeks leading up to the public hearing, more than 2500 people took a community survey asking them for their most important budget priorities and the performance of city services. Respondents were most interested in budgeting to maintain a resilient and secure place where all people feel safe, valued and welcomed. Other high scoring priorities included maintaining Bellevue as a livable city with world-class places, fostering a sustainable and reliable transportation system, and having a well-managed and accountable government. During the public hearing, many comments were focused on continuing investment in the city's Vision Zero work to eliminate serious and fatal injuries on our roadways and on prioritizing environmental protections in the budget, including the city's environmental stewardship program and updated tree protection codes, which were approved by the council on the consent calendar at the meeting.

Several updates were made to the budget process this year in line with the city's Financial Strategy Guiding Principles emphasizing stewardship, transparency, professionalism, balanced risk and being nimble. Additionally, the revised budget process includes the introduction of a budget equity toolkit, which inventories department diversity, equity, and inclusion resourcing and assesses opportunity for growth in the future.

Acting City Manager Diane Carlson mentioned this budget cycle is expected to have flat revenue growth, meaning Bellevue is in a better place than many other cities expected to operate at a deficit, but still must remain cautious and prudent to maintain stability and deliver on the most important city services. The public hearing and full discussion are available on video replay through Bellevue Television.

Experience Bellevue! recap

In other business, the council received a report recapping the recent Experience Bellevue! event, which attracted nearly 700 participants in 2024. The Experience Bellevue! Neighborhoods Conference was introduced in 2016 and is held bi-annually in the spring.

While Experience Bellevue! is typically held on one Saturday, this year it spanned three Saturdays and added a family festival, use of multimodal transit, a meet and mingle councilmember panel and live interpretation headsets for multiple languages. As is typical, the event included neighborhood bus tours, hands-on demonstrations, walking tours and other experiences and workshops.

More details are available in the meeting materials.

Emergency management overview

The city's Office of Emergency Management (OEM) gave the council an update on how it builds resiliency in Bellevue through disaster preparedness training and planning.

The team constructs and administers a comprehensive plan that considers all hazards that can occur in our area and approaches and engages the whole community to better respond to and recover from emergencies. Everyone in Bellevue has a role in preparing for an emergency and personal preparedness is key. Ideally, everyone should be ready to be "on your own" for two weeks if a major disaster strikes.

The city partners with the State of Washington and King County to support the Prepare in a Year program, which breaks down essential preparedness into manageable tasks over a calendar year. The city also has video guidance on building an emergency kit.

If community members want to be more involved, the office of emergency management has two volunteer groups. The Bellevue Communications Support team is made up of amateur radio operators and the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) offers disaster response classes being held this fall. The CERT program is for anyone who lives, works, or plays in Bellevue and wants to become more involved in their community while supporting disaster response.

Arts Commission and Transportation Commission appointments

The council unanimously appointed three people to the arts and transportation commissions.

Councilmember John Stokes, as liaison to the Arts Commission, recommended Qiong Chen to serve a full term on the commission expiring May 31, 2028, and Joydeep Hazra to serve a partial term ending May 31, 2026.

Councilmember Jared Nieuwenhuis, as liaison to the Transportation Commission, recommended Susanna Keilman to the commission for a full term expiring May 31, 2028.