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Commission discusses low-income stipends, AMI verification and records privacy
Summary
Members considered options for a low-income stipend for council members, verification using federal tax forms, and how AMI (area median income) thresholds would apply; the city attorney said tax documents used for verification would not be disclosable by public records request.
Commission members discussed whether Bothell should offer a low-income stipend to make council service more accessible and how eligibility and privacy would be handled.
Alex (consultant) summarized peer-city practices, saying a few cities offer targeted low-income stipends or childcare supports; Redmond, for example, gives a $300 monthly stipend that council members may use at their discretion. Commissioners asked whether jurisdictions reported that anyone had actually used the low-income stipend; Alex said Kirkland and Edmonds did not report usage to the consultant when contacted.
The commission discussed verification methods and privacy protections. The City Attorney (staff) advised the commission that if the eligibility requirement for a stipend were based on a federal tax return, the tax document itself would not be provided in response to a public records request, although the commission would be able to disclose whether a specific person applied or received the stipend. Commissioners asked about how to protect applicants’ income details; the City Attorney recommended making the tax document the required verification so the specific income figures would remain private.
Commissioners also discussed the operational detail of an AMI threshold. Alex displayed a table for King County and Snohomish County AMI and said the consultant’s assumption for eligibility would be an income below 80% of AMI; the consultant gave an example that a three-person household earning up to about $99,900 could qualify under the table used in the packet. Commissioners noted that AMI in this region is high and that an 80% AMI threshold may not make stipend support sufficient for residents on minimum wage.
No ordinance or stipend policy was adopted at the meeting. Commissioners asked staff to draft possible eligibility and privacy language for future consideration and to include the AMI table in materials to be reviewed with the draft survey.
