Published March 29 2016
At an extended study session on Monday, the City Council dove deep into the details of the 2017-18 budget process. The briefing, at the city's Public Safety Training Center, covered a number of topics, including a breakdown of the upcoming budget schedule, key focus areas, economic and revenue forecasts, and the city's recent resident survey results.
Since 2010 Bellevue has used a budgeting method called "Budget One." The process emphasizes community outcomes, not departments. It involves a series of steps that create a government based on available funding, which is then connected to these outcomes and their associated service delivery results. The 2017-18 outcomes are:
- Improved mobility and connectivity;
- Economic growth and competiveness;
- Responsive government;
- Safe community;
- Quality neighborhoods/Innovative, vibrant and caring community;
- Healthy and sustainable environment.
Helping to kick off the discussion, staff gave an overview of the recently completed residential budget survey. The results showed mobility as residents’ top priority. Nearly all residents (95 percent) feel that the overall quality of life in Bellevue exceeds or greatly exceeds their expectations. Respondents also gave high marks to the quality of city services (91 percent) and acknowledged their value based on paid tax dollars (83 percent). Four out of five problems cited by residents concerned transportation and/or congestion.
Later, the conversation turned to an overview of Bellevue's economic forecast. Nearly all indicators demonstrate Bellevue's economy has recovered from the last recession. The housing market continues to grow at 4.6 percent (2016) and unemployment is currently bottomed out at 3.7 percent. However, staff pointed to a six-year budget forecast that shows a potential operating gap as soon as 2020, if the city has little or no economic growth. In their follow-up discussion, councilmembers highlighted the need to prepare for such downturns and urged staff to explore ways to avoid a drop in services levels.
Moving forward, the council will hold the first of three public hearing on the budget in May. The remaining two will be in July, prior to the submission of the preliminary budget, and in November. The city manager will present a proposed budget to the council in October. The council will then review and approve the general and capital projects budgets sometime before the end of the year.