Bellingham considers tax method for funding programs to fight climate change
Bellingham City Council members are looking at whether a proposed tax to fight climate change at the local level should be a property tax, an assessment on natural gas suppliers or a surcharge on customers’ gas bills.
Those were the options that the council’s Climate Action Committee heard in a presentation Monday, March 28, that addressed Mayor Seth Fleetwood’s call for a funding source that would allow the city to speed implementation of its Climate Action Plan.
Members of the committee discussed possible revenue streams after the presentation — the first of three scheduled discussions before the City Council will decide in June if it will ask voters to approve such a tax on the November ballot.
“Mostly I’m concerned whether or not this will pass,” Councilwoman Lisa Anderson said.
“People are kind of talking about the pass-through cost. It will increase rent and people’s ability to buy homes or rent,” Anderson said.
Mayor Seth Fleetwood asked the council to consider such a tax in November 2021.
On Monday, Fleetwood said that every city in the U.S. and “indeed the world” needs a similar measure to fund the fight against global climate change.
“Climate change is one of the most important and pressing issues of our time,” Fleetwood told the council.
He outlined four broad areas where funding would be used to help the city make “meaningful progress”:
▪ Buy renewable power.
▪ Switch to electricity for heating buildings and water.
▪ Encourage the use of electric cars and buses.
▪ Help lower-income residents with the cost of these changes.
Seth Vidaña, the city’s climate and energy manager, said a tax would provide a stable source of funding so the city could reduce its carbon emissions, help the city adapt to a changing climate — such as repeated flooding, smoky skies or heat waves — and ease the financial burden of climate change on its “vulnerable populations.”
Forrest Longman, the city’s deputy finance director, told the council that a property tax would cost the owner of a $500,000 home between $186 and $248 a year and raise $6 million to $8 million annually for climate change initiatives.
Carbon-reduction goals
Under its 2018 Climate Action Plan, the city wants to reduce its carbon pollution from year 2000 levels by 40% by 2030 and by 85% by 2050.
But that will cost money that the city doesn’t have, said Longman and Public Works Department Director Eric Johnston in a memo to the council.
“Initiatives listed in the (Climate Action Plan) already require millions of dollars of funding resources not available at the local, state, or federal level. Increasing the rate at which Bellingham takes action further underscores the need for additional funding resources. At the mayor’s direction staff have been exploring multiple avenues for funding priority climate initiatives with the highest likelihood of meeting carbon emissions reduction targets,” their memo said.
A few cities across the U.S. have begun to tackle climate change on their own, according to the World Resources Institute.
Cities such as Denver and Cincinnati have added a climate change sales tax, but Longman told the council that Washington law doesn’t allow cities to have a sales tax for that purpose.
And a 1982 state law limits utility taxes to 6% on electric, gas, steam and telephone services — unless voters approve a higher rate.
So a property tax is the most viable option, he said.
This story was originally published March 30, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
