New year brings higher taxes, utility fees for Bellingham residents. What to expect
As 2026 opens, Bellingham’s minimum wage will be going up — and so will property taxes, sales taxes, and the cost of drinking water and flushing the toilet.
Minimum-wage workers in Bellingham will be earning $19.13 per hour starting Jan. 1. That’s up from $18.66 this year under a 2023 voter initiative that sets the local minimum wage to a level $2 above the state figure. Bellingham is one of several Western Washington cities with a minimum wage above the state requirement, including Seattle ($21.30) and Everett ($20.77), according to Axios.
Elsewhere in Washington — which has the highest minimum wage in the nation — the minimum wage will be $17.13 per hour, up from $16.66 this year. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour under the Fair Labor Standards Act, a rate unchanged since 2009.
Property taxes will be going up in Bellingham, because the City Council approved its legally allowed 1% annual increase as part of its budget-approval process on Nov. 17. It will collect more in 2026 than in 2025, plus the value of new construction and improvements, the value of annexations and changes in the state assessed utility valuations, according to the ordinance.
Bellingham’s 2026 property tax levy rate will be finalized by Jan. 15, an official with the Whatcom County Assessor’s Office told The Bellingham Herald.
The city’s 2025 levy rate was $1.3928 per $1,000 of assessed value. Levy rates and district budgets are online at the Assessor’s Office website.
In addition to the rise in property taxes, Bellingham is adding a one-tenth of 1% sales tax to fund policing and public safety programs, a measure that is allowed under state law. That tax was approved unanimously on Oct. 6 after Mayor Kim Lund said it was needed to address a project $10 million budget deficit.
Utility customers will be seeing a sharp rise in their combined monthly water-sewer-stormwater bills next year. An average residential bill will rise from the current $135.23 a month to $152.34 a month in 2026, according to a rate schedule approved unanimously in July.
Public Works Department officials said increased costs were required to update aging infrastructure and to offset other costs increases.
This story was originally published December 29, 2025 at 5:20 AM.
