Bellingham’s proposed 2026 budget has layoffs, service cuts and a new tax
Mayor Kim Lund’s proposed 2026 budget cuts the equivalent of 30 full-time jobs, trims city services, and urges the City Council to enact a new sales tax for public safety in an attempt to reduce a projected $10 million deficit.
In all, the $543 million spending plan eliminates 40 total positions, many of which are vacant already as officials saw a fiscal crisis looming earlier this year, according to Lund’s budget message to the City Council on Monday.
“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face,” Lund said Monday, quoting boxer Mike Tyson as she delivered her budget message.
A total of 12 layoffs are planned.
“The budget includes reductions across nearly all departments in the General Fund, including the Mayor’s Office, the Police Department, the Fire Department, the Parks and Recreation Department and the library. I recommend this action with a heavy heart. Our employees are the most important asset of the city. Our employees are the city. But this action is necessary to ensure we can continue to deliver services to our community sustainably,” Lund said, fighting back tears as she read her budget message.
A public hearing on next year’s spending plan is scheduled when the City Council meets at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 6, at City Hall, 2010 Lottie St. The meeting will be broadcast live on the city’s You Tube channel.
“For members of our community, these staffing reductions will result in changes that may impact you. While we seek to minimize impacts to public-facing services, the reductions will be felt in reduced library hours, parks maintenance, and walk-in services. We will be navigating how to do less, because there will be fewer people to do our work,” Lund said in her budget message to the council.
City Council members got their first look at the 2026 budget in committee discussion Monday afternoon. The budget was scheduled for formal introduction Monday night., and it was posted online at 2 p.m.
A weekly series of City Council committee work sessions on the budget are scheduled for Mondays through Nov. 10. That’s where council members will examine proposed departmental budgets in detail.
In a broad overview of the budget Deputy Administrator Forrest Longman said the biggest impacts include the library, which is losing four positions, the Fire Department, which is loosing 6.4 positions, and the Parks and Recreation Department, which is losing 5.3 positions.
Lund said that she and all department heads are giving up their 3% cost of living allowance for 2026.
“That was one small thing that we could do,” Lund said.
The 2026 budget assumes that the City Council will pass a sales tax of one-tenth of 1% earmarked for public safety. City Council members approved that measure unanimously on Sept. 15, but it requires a third and final vote to take effect.
Such a tax would cost Bellingham shoppers about 10 cents on a $100 purchase, according to the city.
It would raise about $3.9 million for a range of public safety services in 2026, helping to plug an expected budget deficit of $10 million next year.
The tax can be used for several programs that fall under the label of public safety, including law enforcement, domestic violence, public defenders, re-entry work for offenders and crime-reduction measures.
It will not allow the city to hire new police officers as some have claimed, Lund said.
“This $4 million enables us to hold the line” and is “essential to our commitment for public safety,” Lund said.
This story was originally published September 30, 2025 at 9:51 AM.
