EDMONDS — Edmonds Mayor Mike Rosen recommended a $19.3 million property tax levy lid lift to the City Council on Tuesday.
The figure is more than three times higher than the $6 million levy lid lift assumed in the city’s 2025-26 budget. A $19 million levy lid lift would lead to a property tax increase of $84.68 per month for the median home value of $840,000, Rosen said. If it chooses to pursue a levy lid lift ballot measure, the City Council must decide on an amount by Aug. 5, the filing deadline for the November election.
At the City Council’s retreat in May, Rosen unveiled three potential scenarios for the future of the city amid its fiscal crisis. First, the city could continue with a $6 million levy, which wouldn’t result in an improvement in services, Rosen said. Second, the city could pursue a higher levy lid lift — the $19.3 million — that would improve city services and move Edmonds out of its fiscal emergency. Third, the council could choose not to pursue a levy, or voters could reject it in November. In this case, the city would have to find $8 million in cuts to services.
To come to the $19.3 million, Rosen used a combination of community input, comparisons to other cities and recommendations from city employees from various departments. The recommendations ranged from $11.7 million to $22.1 million.
Rosen’s figure assumes the council would find $5 million in new revenue. The mayor released a list of recommended revenue streams Tuesday totaling $9.4 million. Of those, $7.8 million could be initiated in 2025, including annexing unincorporated Esperance, implementing a business and operations tax, and implementing a law enforcement and criminal justice sales tax. The other $1.7 million would come from longer-term ideas that the council could implement within the next two to three years. These included installing more red light cameras, implementing transportation multi-modal impact fees and increasing motor vehicle license fees.
“This indicates to the community that we do want to spread the pain,” Rosen said. “We don’t want to rely on one single source. We do want to diversify our revenue streams. … This is the beginning of that conversation.”
Council member Jenna Nand said $19 million may be too high of an increase to ask voters for in November. She pointed to a property tax levy lid lift in Everett that failed in August 2024. In April of this year, Brier voters rejected a $1 million levy lid lift for public safety.
“I’m very concerned that if we attempt to make the city whole within a year by going after such a gargantuan amount of money, that we’re really going to politically be setting ourselves up for failure,” Nand said.
Moving forward, the council could decide to find more than $5 million in revenue streams to lower the levy lid lift amount. Rosen also assumed the city has a $3.8 million backlog of improvements on facilities, roads, ADA ramps and sidewalks. The council could also determine this amount is lower, decreasing the levy lid lift amount. Regardless, Rosen said, the final number that would go to voters in November is up to the council.
The council will meet in a special work session Thursday to further discuss the potential levy lid lift. Residents can give public comment at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
Before Rosen announced his recommendation, the council passed a draft resolution declaring the effects on the city if there is no levy lid lift in November. The city would have to completely eliminate its human services department and cultural service program and make significant cuts to a number of city departments, including police, parks and recreation, and community and economic development, among other cuts.
“It takes forever to get programs back, and they won’t be reconstituted at the same strength of what they were previously,” Council President Pro Tem Susan Paine said.
Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.
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