Bellevue gained more than 5,000 new residents Monday night, in a unanimous vote nearly 25 years in the making.

A gleeful City Council voted to make the areas of Eastgate, Tamara Hills and Horizon View a part of Bellevue. Starting June 1 the new areas will receive Bellevue city services and pay taxes to the city.

“Your taxes are going to go down,” Councilmember John Chelminiak told a small crowd of new Bellevue residents at the Monday meeting. “How often do we get to say that and have it actually be true?”

According to city figures, the owner of a house with an assessed value of $382,000 will see a savings of $467 a year. Property tax will drop $978, but will be offset by $189 more in storm water fees and $322 more in utility taxes.

The city is finishing up the annexation process for the final area, Hilltop, with a scheduled vote on July 16.

Eastgate was originally slated to become part of Bellevue in 1989 following an election on the issue, but residents did not want to take on their share of the city’s bond debt, said Senior Planner Nicholas Matz, so the council decided against the annexation. Other attempts to restart the process stalled, either for political reasons or economic problems.

But a King County initiative to push unincorporated communities to annex to nearby cities kick-started the conversation again. It took another couple of years, and hundreds of volunteers canvassing for enough signatures from residents to qualify for annexation to get things moving.

The city had until Aug. 1 to get a deal done, with the intention of finishing up in early April. Staff worked all the way up to the council meeting Monday to get the agreement finalized with the county.

“What happened for us there, in negotiating with King County, we felt we needed a little more time to cross every ‘T’ and dot every ‘I,'” Matz said

Financially, the city will be operating at an annual loss of about $1.3 million from adding the new communities, but Bellevue was able to take advantage of a state program that allows some sales tax revenue destined for the state to be diverted to cities to help pay for annexation. That program was in jeopardy during the Legislative session, but it was left whole.

Now, the city is ready to celebrate.

Bellevue will hold a number of events to formally welcome the new residents to town. On June 18, starting at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall, the council will hold a reception for new residents. Over the following three days staff will hold meetings to help residents get any annexation-related questions answered. Meetings will be held at 10 a.m. June 19, and 5:30 p.m. June 20 at the Newport Way Library, and June 21 at 10 a.m. at the South Bellevue Community Center.

A month later, July 26, city staff will provide a celebration featuring games and activities that highlight city programs, beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the South Bellevue Community Center.

Nat Levy: 425-453-4290;

nlevy@bellevuereporter.com