Poulsbo council reviews midyear finances, weighs B&O changes and possible public-safety sales tax

POULSBO, Wash. — The Poulsbo City Council received a midyear financial briefing Aug. 20 that showed general-fund revenues and expenditures tracking close to plan through June but warned the city’s reserves and ongoing revenue growth may not be sufficient to cover rising costs without policy changes.

Finance staff told council the general fund is at roughly 52% of expected revenues and 50–51% of expenditures for the fiscal year through June, leaving the city “on target” for the first half of the year. “Not to bury the lead, but this is a great report because we are on target bottom line for, where we wanna be for both revenues and expenditures,” Larissa Campbell, who presented the quarterly variance report, said.

The presentation and ensuing discussion focused on three areas: (1) revenue trends and one-time balances; (2) program costs that now rely on general-fund support; and (3) policy options to shore up long-term sustainability. Debbie (Finance Department staff) and City Administrator Rob Gelder joined Campbell in answering council questions about specific lines such as admissions, development fees, traffic-camera receipts and the criminal-justice sales tax remittances from the county.

Why it matters: Council members and staff agreed the city’s strong cash position today — general-fund cash was described in the meeting as roughly $8–9 million — provides flexibility, but multi-year projections shown to council indicate the city could exhaust planned reserves in the 2027–2029 timeframe if revenue growth remains flat while expenditures rise. That projection drove discussion of near-term revenue choices and spending priorities.

Key figures and trends - Revenues through June: ~52% of budgeted amounts (Larissa Campbell). The sales-tax line for 2025 was budgeted at about $5.6 million; year-to-date collections through activity in May were slightly above last year but generally…