(The Center Square) – The city of Bellingham, Wash., is working quickly to implement a new sales tax to fund public safety operations in 2026 amid a $10 million budget gap.
The Bellingham City Council is expected to approve a resolution that authorizes Mayor Kim Lund to take the steps necessary to determine the city’s eligibility to impose the sales tax.
Next month, the city council will then regroup to discuss implementing the tax.
The 0.1% – or 10 cents per $100 spent – sales and use tax was authorized by House Bill 2015, which state legislators approved and Gov. Bob Ferguson signed into law in May.
To begin collecting revenue from the sales tax in 2026, the city would have to submit an authorization ordinance to the state Department of Revenue by Oct. 17. Furthermore, the city has to submit its application to the Washington Criminal Justice Training Commission with a 45-day review period in mind.
Bellingham Deputy City Administrator Forrest Longman said this means the city has to submit the ordinance “basically in the next couple of days for eligibility.”
According to Longman, the tax is anticipated to raise $4 million in 2026 with revenue offsetting public safety expenses in the general fund. As a result, the city’s $10 million budget gap would be reduced down to $6 million.
By the end of the year, the city is set to publish a public safety strategic plan that will evaluate the current system and find a sustainable public safety funding model.
“So this funding here is more for a short-term solution, because we know that $6 million increment every year just keeps getting bigger and bigger,” Longman said.
During Monday morning’s Budget and Finance Committee meeting, all city council members voted to recommend the resolution’s approval, signaling support of the sales tax in the future.
Bellingham City Councilmember Lisa Anderson said she is hesitant to implement another tax amid affordability concerns, but acknowledges the importance of funding public safety.
“I hope with this $4 million being able to go specifically into hopefully protecting some of these services … that perhaps we won’t be seeing cuts in those areas as we are looking at other city budgets and staffing,” Anderson said.
The city council will vote on the resolution during its city council meeting on Monday night.
