Bellevue unveils preliminary 2025–26 budget and new equity toolkit
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Summary
City staff presented the preliminary 2025–2026 operating budget and 6-year capital plan, introduced a new Budget Equity Toolkit to assess impacts on historically marginalized communities, and outlined a calendar of public hearings and October study sessions.
City staff gave the Bellevue City Council an overview of the preliminary 2025–2026 operating budget and six-year capital plan at the Sept. 17 meeting, highlighting constrained revenue growth, a new electronic budget book and targeted investments in human services, housing, transportation and public safety.
Acting City Manager Diane Carlson framed the budget as a product of council priorities and updated financial policies. Chief Financial Officer John Risha and budget staff described the calendar for deliberations: a second public hearing the following week, three October study sessions organized by strategic target areas (STAs), a final public hearing Nov. 12 and tentative adoption on Nov. 19.
Staff also introduced the Budget Equity Toolkit (BET), a 14-question framework departments completed to identify how budget proposals affect historically marginalized groups (including communities of color, people with disabilities, low-income residents, people experiencing homelessness, speakers of other languages and immigrants and refugees). BET responses identified investments in human services, affordable housing, ADA compliance and language-access technology, and suggested opportunities for more proactive community engagement and disaggregated data use.
Financial context: staff said the biennial appropriation would be approximately $1.75 billion, a reduction from the prior cycle's $2.2 billion appropriation largely due to changes in accounting and presentation of beginning fund balances and historical interdepartmental charges. Staff emphasized that a substantial portion of the preliminary biennium resources (about $1.64 billion) include one-time beginning balances and that ongoing revenues are more constrained.
Councilmembers used the presentation to ask about public safety staffing, arts funding, the proposed office of housing, permit-streamlining and capital-delivery improvements. Staff outlined a "memory bank" process to collect council questions and provide shared answers before the next packet publication.
Next steps: staff will bring more detailed STA briefings through October and return for public hearings and adoption hearings in November. The electronic budget materials are available at bellevuewa.gov/budget.
