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The Edmonds City Council at its 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 2 business meeting is scheduled to take up the topic of a possible temporary increase in the City’s utility tax rate to shore up the city’s budget for 2026.
An exact percentage increase isn’t included in the draft ordinance attached to the council’s Dec. 2 agenda packet. The agenda memo does indicate that the increase would be temporary, with a sunset clause of 18 months.
The amount of income derived from the measure was estimated at around $3.5 million. That would give the city “additional time to evaluate and pursue longer term budget solutions,” Council President Neil Tibbott said in the agenda memo included in the council packet.
The council is also scheduled to hold a public hearing on interim zoning for four parcels of land in the city’s Westgate neighborhood that are currently unzoned after being left out of the City’s 2024 Comprehensive Plan Update. And it will discuss any final revisions related to the North Bowl Hub, where residents have suggested amending Comprehensive Plan to reduce density there.
Other items on the agenda include potential adoption of code revisions aimed at helping staff manage City right of way and welcoming to the dais the new student council representative, Vivian Liao, who was appointed last week.
The 6 p.m. meeting will be in the council chambers, Public Safety Complex, 250 5th Ave. N., Edmonds. You can view the meeting live on cable public education and government television on channel 21 or channel 39. Meetings are rebroadcast daily at noon and 7 p.m. To participate in the meeting remotely, click on zoom.us/J/95798484261. To listen by phone, call +1 253 215 8782 and use Webinar ID 957 9848 4261.
Prior to the 6 p.m. meeting, the Council’s Committee A will meet remotely starting at 3 p.m. to discuss the following items:
- Lease agreements with organizations located at the Frances Anderson Center.
- A supplemental agreement for stage 3 of the Highway 99 Revitalization Project.
- Microsoft Enterprise agreement renewal.
- Modification of an agreement with South County Fire regarding collection of fire prevention fees.
- Restoration of vacation hours for a rehired employee.
- New parking permit annual pricing increase for 2026.
The committee meeting can also be viewed by clicking on zoom.us/J/95798484261. To listen by phone, call +1 253 215 8782 and use Webinar ID 957 9848 4261.
For those who can’t access the remote committee meeting on their devices, a monitor is provided in the City Council conference room at City Hall, 121 5th Ave. N., Edmonds.
You can see agendas for both meetings on the City’s meeting portal.
I don’t think that the city council got the message. No new taxes. Find ways to reduce expenses.
Well said Gary!
Raise taxes AND stage 3 of HWY 99 project….all in the same meeting! What are they not hearing? CUTS!!
Apparently, you didn’t hear what people had to say at the polls or at the city council meeting last week!!!
Figure out a way to make cuts!!!
Cyber Monday Utility Tax Increase.
After voters rejected the $14.5M levy, the mayor should’ve paused and built a real plan.
Instead, he’s pushing a utility tax hike to 20%—no voter approval needed.
I went back to the Council Meeting last week and listened to Mayor Rosen decry: “We Love our Business Community in Edmonds”… “supports small biz”….but this tax hits every district with higher costs, tighter margins, and more uncertainty.
The levy failed because there’s still no plan, no KPIs, no economic development strategy. Edmonds doesn’t need another tax hike. It needs accountability – badly.
Who are our mayor and councilmembers working for? I want to see them all succeed, ignoring voters; ignoring affordability issues is not how you succeed.
Reallocate ridiculous spend to our parks department, check your ego & follow Jim Ogonowski’s 2026 budget recommendations.
https://myedmondsnews.com/2025/11/reader-view-a-proposed-2026-budget-that-protects-services-and-taxpayers/
“Temporary” is government-speak for “permanent”.
Off topic but has there been any update on the Traffic Light cameras. I could be wrong but seems like its been over a year and we should have some numbers on the revenue generated. This expenditure was approved on the assumption of pretty substantial revenue. Be nice to get an update to see if true or another wasted expenditure.
Thank goodness. I thought I was in the Twilight Zone when I read this article. It’s like if mama says “no” go ask daddy. Seriously, what is it about overwhelming citizen NO vote on raising taxes that the council doesn’t understand?
I love living in this city and appreciative of all the dedicated city workers out in the field working hard every day. However, I find this city council and administration extremely “taxing” and exhausting on so many levels.
At this point, I honestly don’t think we can make any headway in having our representatives truly hear us and represent us. Can someone please let us know, aside from waiting for another election cycle, what mechanisms are available to citizens to legally remove the elected officials from their positions – Mayor and city council members?
Jack — there are mechanisms in Washington to remove elected officials before the next election, but they’re very narrow and very legal-standard driven.
Washington State does allow recall of local elected officials — including the Mayor and City Council — but only for specific “recallable offenses.”
This isn’t a popularity vote. Under RCW 29A.56, the charges must meet one of these four standards:
•Malfeasance (doing something illegal or wrongful)
•Misfeasance (performing duties in an improper way)
•Violation of the oath of office
•Failure to perform a duty required by law
Here’s the key part: A Superior Court judge must review the recall charges and agree they meet the legal threshold before signatures can even be gathered.
If the court approves the charges:
• You gather signatures equal to 25% of the votes cast in the last election for that office.
• If enough signatures are verified, a recall election is triggered.
So yes — recall is possible in Washington, but it must be rooted in provable misconduct, not frustration over policy decisions.
I hear you Jack, to the point where I figured it just made more sense to move some place, where people who run things generally understand that absolute needs have to come before absolute wants. Most of the people you are electing to the mayor and council positions for years now have virtually no training or experience that makes them in anyway competent to run something as complex and demanding as city government services. A couple years ago someone well known suggested I run for Edmonds City Council. I told that person that in no way do I have the education or ability to begin to do that job as it should be done. Many people who run and get elected to city office do not have that self awareness NOT to do their fellow citizens such a big disservice as to get elected to an office they are not equipped for, or qualified to handle. Well meaning and willing to serve people are getting elected and in the process are perpetuating a governmental system that just does not work and never will work very well. As long as you keep purchasing the idealist’s dreams instead of just what you have to have for basic decent living you will be a city constantly having to raise taxes. Growth won’t solve anything!
A significant issue with the City Council’s proposal for substantial utility tax hikes is that it will adversely affect numerous seniors living on fixed incomes, providing only discounts for individuals at the lowest income brackets.
Renters will not receive any assistance and are expected to experience these considerable increases reflected in higher rental costs. These drastic hikes will serve as unwelcome burdens from the City Council during this holiday season.
What about the failed levy lift do you not understand, Mayor Rosen and Council members? NO to additional taxes, please!
Nancy, it’s not that they don’t understand losing the levy lift. They totally understand that they lost this one and that the voters are finally waking up to the misguided over spending on things that don’t or shouldn’t really matter, but to suddenly start listening to Jim O. and the other very knowledgeable and capable people in the KEA group and on the BRP would mean having to admit they were wrong about needing this huge tax ask in the first place and that is too big a threat to their already fragile wounded egos. Hence they immediately pass all the tax increases they can get away with, (including the two CM’s who are reputed to have some true financial expertise and experience in accounting and running an efficient profitable private enterprise). Sooner or later you are just going to have to face up to the fact that your governmental system simply doesn’t work very well and needs to be modified and modernized. I suspect we are at about the same crossroads at the state and national levels too. It’s the people with the malignant egos and thirst for power and influence that generally cause most of the man made problems in this troubled old world.