Edmonds council reviews levy and revenue options after staff outlines four budget scenarios

Edmonds — The City of Edmonds’ Committee of the Whole spent most of its meeting reviewing four budget scenarios and a range of nonproperty-tax revenue ideas as officials prepare for an impending decision on a potential levy lid lift.

Council President Neil Tibbitt opened the discussion by reminding members that the meeting was for information-gathering only: “This is a committee meeting. So this is not a time for us to make decisions or take action,” he said.

The mayor’s office summarized four approaches councilors received earlier: a community proposal called “Keep Edmonds Vibrant,” a comparables-based scenario derived from consultant Mike Bailey’s work, a staff-generated list of service restorations and revenue ideas, and a mayoral “split-the-difference” levy proposal. During the meeting staff and consultants provided numerical illustrations tied to those options: the mayor’s largest levy lid‑lift scenario was shown at roughly $22 million (estimated levy rate about $1.38 per $1,000 of assessed value), Mike Bailey’s comparables scenario placed the levy rate near $1.03, and the Keep Edmonds Vibrant community proposal was discussed in the neighborhood of $9 million (about $0.73 per $1,000).

Why it matters: council members said they need more clarity on what each number buys, how quickly revenues would materialize and what implementation capacity the city has. The mayor flagged several…