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Editor:
After 59% of Edmonds voters rejected Prop 1, many expected the City to pause, reassess and build a credible financial plan. Instead, the City Council just doubled the utility tax from 10% to 20% last night — and Council President Tibbott has already directed the City Attorney to begin preparing the next levy for 2026!
That means voters said no, and City Hall’s response was: raise taxes anyway and start planning the next one.
This isn’t sustainable. A small shop paying ~$1,500/month in utilities will now pay $1,800 more per year; restaurants and retailers will see $3,000–$4,000+, with costs pushed through NNN leases across Highway 99, Westgate, and downtown. It could be that some favorite restaurants, coffee shops, salons, don’t survive.
The levy failed because there was no plan — and there is still no plan: no KPIs, no economic development strategy, no citizen oversight, and no transparent modeling.
After November, residents and businesses should demand four immediate actions:
- Repeal the utility tax ordinance.
- Establish the Citizens Financial Advisory Committee
- Delay any discussion of another 2026 levy until credible reforms are in place.
- Conduct proper due diligence on the alternative budget presented by Keep Edmonds Affordable.
This isn’t about rejecting revenue. It’s about the City ignoring why the levy failed: no plan, no KPIs, no economic development strategy, and no citizen financial advisory committee — all still missing. Check out this Reader View: A proposed 2026 budget that protects services and taxpayers.
Edmonds needs accountability and a plan — not another tax increase that makes the city more expensive for businesses and residents.
Lee Reeves
Edmonds
Wait Lee… there is a plan. It is to find ways to make more revenue. That is it. Will the plan work? Will the mayor keep his job? Will city council members keep theirs? We shall see. If you thought the citizens finally said no when the last mayor lost re-election just wait until the next spots are up again. The spending across the state will stop and the reason why is there is nothing more to spend. The municipalities that realize this first and cut back now will be the real winners in the race -OR- they can keep doubling down on finding new ways to create more revenue but they will lose if they follow that route. All they have to do is look at how small business is doing. If small business prospects are bad the cities revenue will be bad. If small business prospects are good the city will have more revenue to spend. You can’t have one without the other and business prosperity leads city prosperity. Not the other way around.
Hear you, Jim. Here’s some small business data for our Mayor and CM Tibbot: As a point of reference on the utility tax increase, I talked to five (5) Downtown Edmonds business owners yesterday. Four of five told me it’s likely they plan to close and relocate out of Edmonds in Q126. The fifth owner said he’s planning to close – if he makes it to Q126. Two very familiar coffee shops – a big restaurant – and two salons.
That’s the real impact. And it’s coming.
It is happening in many areas of the country where elected politicians keep pushing the ‘more tax’ narrative. People vote NO and when they are not listened to, or patted on the head and told they don’t know what is in their best interests and fees/taxes go up anyway, they vote with their feet. Good luck replacing the businesses who added so much to Edmonds anytime soon.
OMG.
Voters made their voices clear when they rejected Prop 1, yet instead of listening and reassessing, City Hall doubled down with a 100% utility tax increase. That’s not leadership—it’s defiance.
This is all unbelievably disturbing. Is there a leader among us, Lee, who can take charge, create a Citizens Committee, and foment change? Or are we to resign ourselves to swallowing the continued burden of increased taxes?
The ‘last straw’ Petition now has 165 signatures of residents who have voiced their disgust with the Mayor, CP Tibbott, and the Council. These residents are willing to sign their names and proudly represent the 11,000+ residents who voted against Prop 1 as a 59% super majority. They can’t wait until CP Tibbott leaves the Council on December 31st. Good riddance is a mild sendoff for someone who has consistently lied to the public, disrespected taxpayers, abused the Council’s rules of order, and wasted taxpayers’ money through mismangement and reckless spending. Come January 1st, Erika Barnett will replace Tibbott on the Council, and if she delivers on her good governance reform campaign promise, she will join the three Council members (Dotsch, Chen, and Olson)who have exhibited good governance principles of fiscal discipline, transparency, common sense, performance-based/results-oriented management, accountability, and putting taxpayers first – and there will be a new majority coalition on the Council who can reverse the excessive spending and back-breaking taxing policies of Tibbott and the other 3 Council members. They can repeal the utility tax increase, derail another tax levy lift, set up an effective Citizens’ Financial Advisory Committee, and rewrite the 2026 budget by following the recommendations of Jim Ogonowski’s alternative budget. Please join 164 of your neighbors and fight to Keep Edmonds Affordable by signing the ‘last straw’ Petition: https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/enough-utility-tax-increase-is-last-straw
Well said, Jim, you are spot on.
So I WAS in the twilight zone. This is a clear example of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Good luck on that 2026 levy.
Lee, what is the most valuable thing we have in Edmonds? It’s obvious to me.
The people.
True. But what is the most valuable asset besides the people that could help all of the people? Ha. I’ll be back later. Tomorrow. I’m stringing lights. 🙂
Deborah – I don’t know you or Lee but I am interested in the answer to your question if you are done stringing lights . . .
Hi Beth, I don’t know Lee or you either. And I infact am still stringing lights. I just popped in here for quick look at today’s comments. I think at this time it might be wise to say nothing more. Sometimes Beth Ideas which is all I’ve got to help Edmonds begin to have all they want and at the same time not tax people to death…It’s a tall order Beth. When I look around and remember as I tend to do, I think there are some things or large land plots we could sell. Sell to an entity that would develop and bring in more space for business and upscale housing that would bring in nice property taxes for Edmonds. We have an awful lot of duplication here and some of it is I’m afraid just nostalgic and past its time or not being utilized. Edmonds won’t survive with only property taxes. Where? I have thoughts but I’m not going to discuss those right now. People here tend to get really possessive of things and or places in their own residential areas. I get it. If people really want a strong safe DT core and nice feeder neighborhoods then we’ve got work to do and lessons to learn and sometimes ya just have to leave the heart strings out of it. Back to lights. 🙂