The Bellevue City Council Monday took steps to close a $6.5 million budget hole, but several important decisions remain.

Next week the council will vote on whether or not to charge Bellevue residents for non-emergency ambulance services, and a package of other measures that could combine higher fees, and possibly some layoffs.

The council decided to preserve property tax levels with no increase, other than to keep up with new construction and a parks levy, and it voted in favor of an average 5 percent increase in development service fees to be implemented over the next two years. These two votes were unanimous, but when it came time to talk about cuts, and even layoffs, most councilmembers wanted to wait for items to be fully fleshed out.

“It would feel so much more healthy if we could have the conversation about patching the budget, and let’s have it all on the table where we can do it and go home,” said Councilmember Kevin Wallace.

Complicating things are negotiations between the city and labor unions representing police and fire employees. Labor negotiations have been the subject of numerous executive sessions in the past few weeks. Bellevue Mayor Don Davidson publicly acknowledged the struggle. With revenue flat, or slightly below last year, Davidson said employees are asking for a 3.7 percent cost-of-living increase. Should the unions not budge, Davidson said, more cuts to public safety, a division the council fought tooth and nail to maintain during last year’s budget period, could be on the block.

“Hopefully the negotiations will get off dead center, or we may have to reduce something that’s near and dear to all my councilmembers’ heart and that’s public safety,” he said.

The cost-of-living increase is significantly higher than the budgeted 1.6 percent, after a flat year. This budgeted amount would have cost $1.6 million, leading to a 1.2 million gap between the projections, and the real number. This would be filled by a combination of fees and cuts.

The proposed non-emergency ambulance fee would have customers pay a flat fee of approximately $600, and an additional $12 to $14 per mile traveled. This sort of charge is common throughout King County, but Bellevue has been able to avoid it. Forecasts say this charge could pay for $1.1 million of the budget hole. Medical and fire officials thought this fee may make people who don’t need an ambulance think twice, but it won’t affect important cases.

“I don’t see whether we charge for transit changing how we are interacting with patients and families,” said Bellevue Fire Chief Mike Eisner.

The city manager has already proposed a lengthy list of spending cuts totaling $4.6 million, including the elimination of 17 full-time equivalent positions, six of which would involve layoffs, voluntary separations or voluntary retirements. The proposed reductions come on top of those made last year when the city reduced its workforce by 49 positions and cut $16 million from the budget.

The other $1.6 to $1.9 million hole is the part still up for grabs. The city has presented numerous options to fill this gap that include, cuts to programs, increased taxes, or layoffs of actual employees and leaving vacant positions open.

At risk are a number of positions, including four bicycle patrol police officers, a police captain, and a drop in 24/7 daily emergency firefighter staff. These employees are on the block unless some savings, or increase in utility or business and occupation taxes or fees can be found.