After listening to several City of Edmonds employees describing the financial strain that proposed budget cuts would place on themselves and their families, the Edmonds City Council voted 4-3 Tuesday night to reduce the city’s general fund budget by at least $3.5 million during the 2025-26 biennium. The motion approved by the council as part of its budget deliberations didn’t specify what would be cut. Instead, it directs Mayor Mike Rosen’s administration to report back to the council no later than March 11, 2025 on how the reductions will be achieved — guided by the city’s budgeting by priorities process based on residents’ feedback.

The motion — originally proposed by Councilmember Neil Tibbott — was amended several times before the council agreed to the final wording. It follows a suggestion made last week by Rosen that the council set a target number for budget reductions — and give department directors until March 31 to come with a plan to be considered by the council for implementing them.

The council directed staff to find at least $1.5 million in cuts in 2025 and $2 million in 2026. Voting for the measure were Councilmembers Tibbott, Will Chen, Vivian Olson and Michelle Dotsch, with Chris Eck, Susan Paine and Jenna Nand opposed.

In his Oct. 1 budget address, Rosen proposed a combination of staff reductions, job furloughs and revenue-generating ideas to close the city’s projected $13 million budget gap in 2025. City staff was asked to address half that gap with $7 million in budget cuts, which have been presented to the council in recent weeks. Councilmembers had also considered council amendments that would have reduced the work week for all city employees — to either 35 hours or 32 hours — as well as a 10% cut, but those amendments were withdrawn after the council approved the $3.5 million target.

Prior to the vote, the council heard an earful from city employees who said they would be impacted by the reductions being considered. Employee Denise Nelson, who has worked for the city 10 years, said that she has been battling cancer for the past 16 months. “I want you guys to see the person that’s behind these cuts…because it really affects us,” Nelson said. “I’m the only breadwinner in my family, and cutting me down to 32 or 35 hours, or the 10% cut, or whatever, I’m not going to be able to supplement my income, and so I really don’t know how I will pay for all my cancer treatment.”

Marissa Rutler, who works as a plans examiner, said that “any of these amendments suggested by the council would reduce and encumber the abilities for the planning and development department employees to do our jobs. Our department is revenue based, and the revenue will be directly impacted by the proposed reduced hours on the work week. Fewer permits will be reviewed during the week, and our customers at the counter will feel the impact as well.”

“Morale is very low right now,” said Human Services Program Manager Mindy Woods. “I know we’re in hard, difficult times, and difficult decisions must be made, but please do not make them on the backs of people who work hard to serve this city and to do the very best that they can for the residents that live here.”

The council began considering Tibbott’s proposal during a special 5:30 p.m. meeting but ran out of time to vote on it. It was reintroduced during the council’s 7 p.m. business meeting. Language was adjusted based on the advice of City Attorney Jeff Taraday and amendments were also made, including one by Chen that clarifies that any reductions made in the general fund will be used to offset a $7.5 million interfund loan the city is planning make from its city’s utility fund to the general fund.

Councilmember Jenna Nand spoke in opposition, stating that it didn’t feel transparent to the public to be authorizing cuts now that would be implemented later “in an almost secretive manner.”

“I do not understand this attempt, this mechanism to bypass open discussion before our constituents about which programs we intend to fund,” Nand added. “I think it is an attempt to bypass…and to delay the impact of those political and popular decisions. I think it is illegitimate and it’s disrespectful to the public.”

Tibbott offered a rebuttal to Nand’s statement about transparency, stating his plan is “an opportunity for the administration to do their work where they have expertise, to bring back to the council their very best recommendations. There’ll be complete transparency about what the budget cuts will be. There’ll be discussion back and forth, and the council will do their due diligence in terms of approving budget amendments.”

While Rosen said that having a target number gives the administration the flexibility to look at range of ways to cut the budget beyond employee layoffs, councilmembers also recognized that there will be additional staff reductions.

“This is going to be really devastating for our employee groups, most particularly, and I take that to heart, so we’ll have to see how this all can come together,” Paine said.

Despite the focus on budget cuts, the council did end up approving expenditures as well. Among them was a proposal by Paine to reinstate the police community engagement officer position — at a cost of $181,000 — that the police department had recommended cutting as part of its departmental review. “This position provides great service to our community by providing outreach to the public, making and keeping amazing community connections and providing crime prevention programs,” Paine said. Voting to bring back the position were Paine, Eck, Nand and Chen, with Dotsch, Olson and Tibbott against. Also related to policing, Chen withdrew an amendment he had proposed to reorganize the department’s command staff. Paine had also proposed bringing back a police public records officer position that had been cut from the budget, but that measure was rejected 6-1.

The council also rejected a proposal from Paine for a workforce planning study, at a cost of $20,000.

Paine then introduced a new amendment to accept the Edmonds Municipal Court’s budget request for additional staffing and related costs to support the city’s new red light cameras, which the council approved earlier this year for two Edmonds intersections.

Court Administrator Uneek Maylor explained that the $144,000 allocated in the draft city budget to the red light program wasn’t adequate to cover all of the program’s expenses, which had first been identified for the council last summer. There was back and forth with Acting Director Dunscombe on why a lower-than-requested amount was included in the draft, and both she and Mayor Rosen explained that because the program was new, they had wanted to see how many citations were generated before deciding whether to increase staff. However, Maylor pointed out that processing the tickets was a very time intensive job that also required six months of training, and the court needed to ensure it was prepared once the red light cameras go online next year.

There was additional discussion about the dollar amount the court was requesting, and Dunscombe said she wanted to review the numbers. She did note, however, that the council would need to find offsetting revenue for the red light camera expenses that weren’t already included in the budget.

The council ended up approving the court’s budget for the red light cameras, which included $135,210 for additional salaries and benefits (beyond the $144,000 already approved), $25,000 for a judge pro tem, $15,000 for an interpreter budget and $15,000 for equipment costs such as desks, computers and supplies.

Maylor promised that court officials would return to the council in the spring with a report on statistics related to the red light program so far.

Also related to budget expenditures, the council during the 5:30 p.m. special meeting approved $49,000 in budget amendments related to planning and development department expenses that were inadvertently left out of the budget during the staffing transition between department directors. Among them were $15,000 for a hearing examiner, $10,000 for a minute taker for the Edmonds Planning Board and Architectural Design Board; $6,250 for a membership in the Alliance for Housing Affordability; $15,000 for arborist services related to permitting; $10,000 in digitization services, $2,500 for interpretation services.

During her council comments, Dotsch noted the spending that was approved Tuesday night, adding she is “really concerned about going in the wrong direction. Insolvency is going to be brutal. We have to make cuts. We might have to sell buildings. There’s a lot of things that I think are on the horizon that could be quite catastrophic if assumptions are not realized.

“We’ve added quite a bit back into the budget, and I don’t think we have funds to sustain it at the moment and have anything left over next year,” Dotsch continued. “So hopefully we’ll come back next week [with] some opportunities for additional cuts to keep us solvent next year.”

Chen and Eck, meanwhile, said it was also time for the city to start finding ways to generate revenue. “We can’t cut our way out of this,” Eck said. “We’ve got to figure out what are those relevant ideas we can implement, and just do it yesterday.”

The council will continue to discuss the budget at its Dec. 3 meeting.

In other business Tuesday, the council received an update on banners, made of coated aluminum, planned for 14 red light poles originally installed in 2008 along Highway 99 in Edmonds’ International District. The selected designs are by five artists, with six of the designs repeated twice and two designs used on one banner each, for a total of 14 banners. According to staff, the multiple ethnic and cultural traditions of the International District are reflected in the various designs, from textile to print patterns, Hispanic to Japanese and Filipino, with additional references to the nearby habitats of lake and forest. The five artists are Romson Regarde Bustillo, Rebecca Elaynow, Stuart Nakamura, June Sekiguchi, and Gabrielle Wildheart. The banners are expected to be installed in spring 2025.

The council also:

– Heard Mayor Rosen read a proclamation in honor of Small Business Saturday, which is Nov. 30. Accepting the proclamation was Sheila Cloney, owner of downtown Edmonds business Anchor Chic Consignment. “We love being a part of what makes Edmonds unique and special, and we especially appreciate all of the support that the city gives to supporting a shop local culture,” Cloney said. “It’s a wonderful place to do business.”

– Received the annual report from the Edmonds Sister City Commission on its 2024 student exchange with Hekinan, Japan. Karyn Heinekin, who has served on the commission for 11 years, talked about the successful summer 2024 student exchange, during which Edmonds-area high school students visited Japan, staying with host families. The process was then reversed, with Hekinan students visiting Edmonds. She said the commission decided — due to current city budget constraints — to cancel its 2025 exchange trip and concentrate on fundraising instead. The commission is also exploring the possibility of becoming a nonprofit organization, she said. Heinekin closed with thanking City of Edmonds employee Carolyn LaFave for her work staffing the commission for the past 12 years.

– Approved the city’s 2025-2030 Capital Facilities Plan and Capital Improvement Program.

— By Teresa Wippel