MLT Council approves 2026 budget amendment, property tax increase, DEI strategic plan

Key takeaways

• Council approves 2026 operating budget amendment.
• Council also OKs property tax increase, which adds $2.84 annually to the tax bill.
• Councilmembers approve a 25-year agreement with Puget Sound Energy.
• The Council moves forward with water tower improvements that include recoating and seismic repairs.
• Councilmembers have a robust discussion on term limits and final approval of DEI strategic plan.

With most of the difficult discussions completed earlier this month, the Mountlake Terrace City Council at its Nov. 20 meeting ticked through public hearings for – and approval of – the 2026 operating budget amendments and the allowable 1% property tax increase with no public comment.

The 2026 budget amendment has an ending cash balance that is $206,000 more than the original adopted budget. The beginning cash balance in 2025 is $4.7 million more than the original adopted budget, due to the city preparing the budget prior to year end close. The budget amendment also includes transfer of funds to several new funds which does not have a financial impact. Salminen reported several capital projects will not be complete in 2025 but will be finished in 2026. 

The 2026 final approved budget breaks down like this:

• Operating budget: $31,833,205
• Utility budget: $38,339,673
• Capital budget: $33,679,968

The Council approved the budget 6-1. Councilmember Laura Sonmore voted no.

Councilmembers also approved the 1% property tax increase allowable under the law by a vote of 6-1, with Sonmore voting no. 

The property tax increase generates a total of $33,235 for the operating budget, which translates to $2.84 annually per household. 

“$33,000 is not a lot when the city has a $1.3 million deficit,” Councilmember Rick Ryan said. 

Councilmember Steve Woodward said the increase foreshadows dire times and tough decisions ahead.

Projects and programs 

The Council approved a 25-year franchise agreement with Puget Sound Energy that allows PSE to provide gas to the City using the City right of way. 

Councilmembers also approved increasing the on-call engineering agreement with consultant Parametrix from $200,000 to $600,000 to do highly specialized water tower work in 2026. Work on Mountlake Terrace’s Jack Long Park tower includes seismic retrofit to ensure the tower remains stable, removal of lead-based paint and hazardous materials, and a recoat to ensure the tower doesn’t rust and leak. Work will not impact the Mountlake Terrace Christmas tree placement. 

Recreation and Parks Director Jeff Betts said a grant is secured to add lights for Evergreen Playfield 4. The City will pay half – $326,000 – from the capital projects budget. 

Playfield 5 has lights and adding lights to playfield 4 will allow the entire field to be used at night for full-field activities like soccer. 

The city project approval is scheduled for Dec. 4.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) strategic plan

The robust DEI plan, under discussion since 2020, is a detailed roadmap to incorporate DEI into everyday City work. Through community conversations, the DEI Commission created an action plan that lays out specific goals and actions to address DEI in personnel policies, city operations and community access. 

“[The program] is already hitting home runs advising city government,” Councilmember William Paige Jr. said. “The Commission has gotten more people involved in City government… and signing up for the ambassador program… The City Government 101 sold out.” 

One sticking point was community access recommendation 3: Revise City code to limit the terms of service for all commissions and councilmembers. The idea is to allow more opportunities for community members to participate and bring new ideas forward. The question before the Council was whether such term limits should be required or just considered. 

“It’s something we heard in our listening sessions, which is the foundation of the recommendations we have here,” DEI Commissioner Vonita Francisco said. 

“I’m fundamentally opposed to term limits of any kind,” said Councilmember Bryan Wahl. “But I do want people to get involved.” 

“If folks reach a term limit, they would continue to be involved… take other opportunities and take that experience to whatever role they were serving in,” Councilmember Erin Murray said. She said she agreed to add the word “consider” because it gets to the intent. 

An amendment to include “consider” when referring to term limits passed with Murray, Paige, Woodard and Mayor Kyoko Matsumoto-Wright voting yes and Wahl, Sonmore and Ryan voting no. 

Among the other proposed goals that generated discussion:

Community access goal 7 asked for gender-neutral bathrooms. Wahl asked for different language, adding that  gender neutral is “red flag term” and that’s “not what we are trying to do.” He went on to propose a language change that gets to the intent of the goal. It removes the words “gender neutral” and instead describes how the bathrooms will be configured for privacy. An amendment to change the language passed 6-1 with Murray voting no. 

Community access goal number 8 focused on recruiting more bilingual staff for customer service roles. Discussion centered around the significant added cost for translation, even with the help of artificial intelligence tools. “We’ve had some negative comments from the community when we only rely on Google Translate,” said Deputy City Manager Carolyn Hope. Hope shared cost estimates associated with translating the entire DEI Strategic Plan into Spanish, which caused the commission to rethink which elements are most important for translation. “It’s $172 an hour,” she said.  

Community access goal 17 was to host conversations to better understand diversity. That goal was updated to include an additional outcome of sharing and learning about local government. 

The council voted to adopt the entire DEI strategic plan as amended by a vote of 7-0. 

The council’s next meeting is Thursday, Dec. 4.