Facing a budget deficit, Bellingham is looking at a new sales tax for 2026
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- Bellingham considers 0.1% sales tax to fund police hiring and public safety.
- Tax could raise $3.9 million in 2026; City Council to vote on eligibility soon.
- Police staff levels remain below state and national averages despite recent hiring.
With a projected multimillion-dollar budget deficit next year, Bellingham City Council members are being asked to think about a new sales tax aimed at bolstering Police Department hiring and training.
Such a tax would be one-tenth of 1%, costing shoppers about 10 cents on a $100 purchase. It would raise about $3.9 million for a range of public safety services in 2026, according to a statement included with the City Council agenda for Monday.
“The attached resolution is the first step toward considering this new funding source. It authorizes the mayor to take the steps necessary to determine the city’s eligibility to impose this tax. The administration will ask the City Council to consider imposing the tax though a separate ordinance to be presented in September,” Forrest Longman, deputy city administrator, said in the statement.
A new state law, HB 2015, allows local governments to impose such a tax for public safety and other uses if they meet certain criteria. The law also offers grants through the state Criminal Justice Training Commission.
The law, which took effect July 27, ensures that officers receive best-practices training and gives communities the flexibility to prioritize public-safety programs that best suit their needs, according to previous McClatchy reporting.
It passed mostly along party lines in April, by votes of 55-42 in the Democratically-controlled House and 30-19 in the Democratically-controlled Senate. Half of the six legislators who represent Bellingham and Whatcom County in Olympia voted against giving cities the ability to impose the tax, including 42nd District state Reps. Joe Timmons, D-Bellingham, and Alicia Rule, D-Blaine. State Sen. Liz Lovett, D-Anacortes, whose 40th District includes part of Bellingham, also voted against it.
Sales tax revenue could go toward public defenders, domestic violence services and programs to help connect formerly incarcerated people with jobs, according to the Washington State Standard, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization. Details of the measure are given in a House Bill report.
Discussion set for Monday
Discussion of the proposal is scheduled during the council’s Budget and Finance Committee meeting at 10:15 a.m. Monday. The committee meets in Council Chambers at City Hall, 210 Lottie St., and the meeting will be broadcast live on the city’s YouTube channel.
A vote on the request to allow the city to seek its eligibility for imposing the tax is scheduled for full City Council consideration at 7 p.m. Monday at City Hall. That meeting will also be broadcast live.
Police staffing
With a 2025 budget of $57.3 million, the Bellingham Police Department is the city’s largest single expenditure.
Since 2020, the department has struggled with staffing because of retirements, dismissals of officers who refused the COVID-19 vaccine, and resignations of officers who were disillusioned with statewide police reforms that were enacted after the murder of George Floyd.
For several years, the department mothballed its special units and staffed only its patrol and investigations divisions. But a hiring push allowed it to revive its popular downtown bicycle program and participate in the Whatcom County Drug Task Force.
In the 2025 budget, the Police Department has 130 full-time commissioned officers, including Chief Rebecca Mertzig and a command staff of two deputy chiefs and six lieutenants, police Lt. Claudia Murphy told The Herald.
In 2022, with similar staffing, there were 13 vacancies. After a hiring push, there is one full-time vacancy and a list of candidates, Murphy said in an email.
“We have 16 recruit officers in various stages of training (pre-academy, academy, post-academy and currently in field training),” she said.
Excluding command staff, that gives Bellingham about 1.25 officers per 1,000 residents, based on a 2024 U.S. census population of 97,000 people. In 2022, the Washington state average was 2.2 officers per 1,000 residents and the national average was 3.5 officers per 1,000 residents, according to Safehome.org.
U.S. Justice Department figures for 2020 showed that cities of 50,000–99,999 population had an average of 1.6 officers per 1,000 residents.
Since there is no national standard for calculating the number of police officers, the most common benchmark is the ratio of officers to residents, typically expressed as sworn officers per 1,000 population.
This story was originally published August 24, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
