Bellingham council approves, but mayor vetoes, extra property tax increase

SAM TAYLOR - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

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BELLINGHAM - Mayor Dan Pike vetoed on the spot an additional property tax increase that a City Council majority approved Monday night, Nov. 23.

Toward the end of the council's meeting late Monday, Pike vetoed a proposal by Councilman Jack Weiss to take 1 percent in banked capacity in addition to a current 1 percent. Banked capacity is taxing authority the council didn't take in the past but reserved the right to do so in the future.

Council members Barry Buchanan and Gene Knutson voted against taking the banked capacity, which would have increased a $300,000 homeowner's property tax bill by about $12.

Council members Louise Bjornson, Stan Snapp, Terry Bornemann, Barbara Ryan and Weiss voted for it.

When the council tried to overturn Pike's veto, Bjornson switched her vote and voted no to reconsideration with Knutson and Buchanan.

The council did approve a 1 percent property tax increase, which amounts to about $6.18 for the owner of a $300,000 home.

Weiss couldn't be reached Tuesday about the issue.

Pike said he vetoed the additional taxing measure immediately because the city had to authorize a property tax ordinance before December to send to the Whatcom County Assessor's Office. For that reason, he didn't have the normal amount of time to assess a proposal before making the decision.

"I knew my feelings about what kind of signal that would send to the community about how we're managing the situation," Pike said of the city's budget.

In the last year and through 2010, Bellingham officials will have cut $28.3 million from the budget. The mayor's 2010 budget proposal of $187.8 million is 13 percent less than this year's budget.

Overall, the 2010 budget would be smaller than that of 2006.

The mayor added that he was concerned about the last-minute proposal by Weiss, though he acknowledged council members previously had discussed taking banked capacity. Snapp also sought to take all of the city's banked capacity at one point, though he received no support from the other two members of the Council Finance Committee, Knutson and Bjornson.