Snoqualmie council reviews $16.1 million mid‑biennium amendment tied to North Bend police contract and utility study

Finance Director Drew Bate told the Snoqualmie City Council on Nov. 10 that a proposed mid‑biennium budget amendment would reduce total appropriations by about $16.1 million, a change driven largely by transfers and internal service adjustments tied to the end of the North Bend Police Services interlocal agreement and updates from the city's utility rate study.

"We are proposing really a $16,100,000 reduction," Drew Bate said while reviewing the amendment and the longer‑term financial forecast. The amendment, offered as a first reading, would reduce the number of budgeted full‑time equivalent positions from 120.3 to 103.3 FTEs for the 2025–26 biennium, a net reduction of 17 positions, the presentation said. About 14.25 of those FTEs reflected positions budgeted in the North Bend Police Services Fund that will not continue after the interlocal agreement ends in March.

Why it matters: staff said that while total appropriations fall 9.3% in the amended budget, much of that decline is in transfers out and internal service charges. When subtracting those noncash transfers, capital spending would decline about 1.5% and operating expenditures about 6.6%, the finance director told council. The department's long‑range forecast showed the point at which forecasted ongoing expenditures exceed forecasted ongoing revenues moving earlier after the amendment is incorporated: the crossover moved from 2028 to 2027 and, under the amendment, the city's ending fund balance is projected to dip below the reserve target by about 2031.

Details the council discussed: the amendment bundles multiple items, including a $240,000 payment connected to the North Bend agreement and closure of the North Bend Police Services Fund, higher liability and property insurance costs, increases in workers' compensation, funding for outside legal counsel, public defender contract changes, AED replacements, splash pad operating costs, transfers of utility fee receipts into the utility capital fund, and true‑ups for ongoing capital projects (Eagle Lake reservoir work, water reclamation facility phase 3, Business Park lift station and support for the Snoqualmie Valley Hospital expansion).

Council members pressed staff about community development staffing and behavioral health services after the North Bend contract ends. "I'm very uncomfortable with us losing more heads out of community development," one council member said, urging additional committee review. Several councilors asked that the behavioral health specialist position be discussed in Public Safety to determine whether an interdepartmental or regional arrangement could preserve services while controlling cost.

City Attorney Dina Burke also briefed council on upward pressure from legal workloads and outside counsel usage this year, citing litigation tied to the police services interlocal agreement, a public‑records lawsuit following an investigation of a former police chief, a right‑of‑way vacation petition, and other land‑use and specialized matters that required outside legal expertise.

What happens next: the mid‑biennium amendment was presented as a first reading; council opened and closed a public hearing on the amended budget with no in‑person speakers. Staff said the ordinance adopting the amendment will return for the second reading and potential adoption at the Nov. 24 council meeting.

Provenance: topicintro SEG 092; topfinish SEG 3280