(The Center Square) – Yakima Finance Director Craig Warner confirmed Tuesday that there is a way to balance the city’s $9 million deficit ahead of 2026 without voting for a $6 million tax hike next month.
In July, the Yakima City Council approved a ballot resolution for the November election, putting a $6 million tax hike out to the voters to solve the city’s budget woes. Warner said officials had adopted an $8.1 million structural gap heading into 2025, but declining sales tax growth has raised the stakes.
The council planned to cut general fund spending by about $3 million if the voters approved the sales tax increase. Warner presented another option during a study session on Tuesday. It would require moving some funds between different accounts and $6 million in cuts that will impact public safety.
“One of the things that we had looked at was proposed expense reductions — $3 million with police, $1.75 million with fire and $1.4 million in parks,” Warner said, which would impact about 20 positions.
State law requires the city to balance its biennial budget before January. The council filled the previous deficit in December by reducing its general fund reserve policy from 16.7% to 12% of spending. That’s no longer an option this time, so voters will either feel the impact through tax increases or reduced services.
Yakima Police Chief Shawn Boyle told the officials that they would need to identify strategic priorities moving forward if they approved these cuts later this year. The reduction would eliminate funding for 14 police officers, four community service officers, an analyst and supervisor position, among others.
The $1.75 million cut to the Yakima Fire Department would result in closing a fire station, with staff members moved to other stations. Warner said the other $1.4 million reduction to Yakima Parks and Recreation would end general fund support for several programs, but they wouldn’t close entirely.
“Revenues are … almost $96 million, and we’re just over $96.4 million in expenditures,” Warner said.
The council adopted the 2026 budget as part of the biennial framework last winter, but it only included $76.77 million in revenues and $84.9 million in spending. Warner said that by adding three new funds and moving all the city’s property taxes to the general fund, he could capture another $16.2 million.
Moving all that tax revenue to the general fund means spending tied to that money will follow, but so will reserves that otherwise would have ended up in another account. Warner said this takes general fund spending up to $96.4 million, leaving only a $1,661 deficit for the city to balance instead of $9 million.
However, Warner’s budget modifications still leave $2.8 million in unbudgeted “needs” for next year, including police and fire equipment replacements, snow and ice removal reserves, bond payments for facility upgrades, police training increases and upgrades to the information technology, or IT, services.
Residents will vote on the $6 million sales tax hike on Nov. 4, with these cuts looming until then.
“We have scheduled two public hearings, one for Nov. 12 and one for Nov. 18,” Warner said. “We’ll probably go back through similar slides and then allow public comment to take place.”
