The city of Bellevue has begun work on its 2019-2020 biennial budget. At a workshop on March 26, City Council members met with staff for an overview and discussion of the current state of the budget in the city and a forecast for the next few years. No decisions were made as the meeting was only informational.

Bellevue Finance Director Toni Call said that after several meetings throughout 2018, the city manager will present the budget to the council in October. City Council will then have until Dec. 31 to review and approve a budget for the new two years.

The meeting last Monday covered the process and timeline for development of the budget, reviewed citizen survey results, updated the council on the General Fund forecast and included discussion on strategies for longer term financial planning.

City Manager Brad Miyake said that meeting was to gain additional feedback from council before he begins constructing the budget.

“After tonight we will take a pause, give council an opportunity to digest a lot of what gets covered tonight,” Miyake said. “Come back with another meeting or two, and answer questions as well as get additional feedback.”

The city of Bellevue uses a process that determines the community priorities and seeks to fund services to achieve those goals. These priorities, referred to as outcomes by the city, are improved mobility and connectivity, preservation of natural and open spaces, community safety, responsive government, economic growth and improved community engagement.

Call said that at this early point in the process, the meetings are centered around answering questions the council might have and getting everyone up to speed. An overview of the General Fund forecast outlined that expenses will continue to grow at a pace faster than revenues from 2019 to 2024. Planning for the future to make sure revenues will not fall behind expenditures in the years beyond 2020 will be one of the aspects considered in this year’s budget development.

The city of Bellevue is also taking citizen feedback into account on budget development. Call said the city has done a budget survey, performance survey and is working on a business survey to get a feel of the resident’s perception of how the city is meeting the needs of its residents.

She also said there will be several opportunities for citizens to actively join the conversation later this year. Three public hearings will be held this summer in June, July and November.

The first two public hearings will be held before the preliminary budget is submitted to the council, the last hearing will be after the final budget is submitted for council approval.

The video recording of the workshop is available to watch on the city’s website at www.bellevuewa.gov.