The Burien City Council’s meeting on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024 was a mix of youthfulness and fiscal reality.
Local Cub Scouts shared their imaginative ideas, while the council grappled with serious issues like the expiration of the Affordable Housing Demonstration Program and the 2025-2026 Biennial Budget.
A particularly contentious topic was the proposed reduction of the Human Services budget, with councilmembers divided on the issue.
Cut Scouts Speak
The meeting began with a handful of Cub Scouts from Gregory Heights who each got 30 seconds on the microphone to address Mayor Kevin Schilling. The ideas they shared ranged from wanting more adult volunteers at recess which would help keep kids safe, to having student government at more schools in order to get more students on board with following rules, to transforming public sidewalks into trampolines just because it would be more fun. The trampoline suggestion got support from multiple speakers. The group then took a photo with the Mayor.
Affordable Housing Demo Expires
The Affordable Housing Demonstration Program, in which the city has tried to encourage developers and organizations to build affordable housing in Burien, will expire at the end of the year. City Manager Adolfo Bailon explained that staff recommends allowing the program to expire, and next year the council can make more permanent changes to city code with the aim of easing the path to building affordable housing.
There have been no new applicants to the demonstration program in the last two years, so staff will be looking into ways to change the recommendations to be more useful for affordable housing developers. They’ll take lessons learned from issues organizations have had with the expiring demonstration project, plus get advice from other organizations, to craft an amendment for Council to discuss next year.
2025/2026 Budget Passes
A public commenter on the Biennial Budget complained that the budget contains very little on the city’s Climate Action Plan, aside from updating the Moshier Community Arts Center HVAC system. In fact, the commenter said, the city has done nothing to reduce greenhouse gasses since 2022. This speaker suggested that the city needs to create an ordinance to require that future homes and businesses install heat pumps.
Despite this critique, the Biennial Budget passed unanimously. The budget includes using money from the City Manager’s Reserve Fund to balance the deficit, which is not sustainable. By 2027, there will be an overall operational deficit.
Legislative Agendas Pass Unanimously
Both the state and federal legislative agendas passed with full council approval. Councilmember Sarah Moore made one amendment to the state legislative agenda. She asked that the city support any efforts to get an Ultra-Fine Particulate (UFP) counter installed in a permanent location. She said that this is the best way to track trends in air quality around airports. Moore’s amendment received full approval.
Discussion On Reducing Human Services Budget
Deputy Mayor Stephanie Mora proposed reducing the amount the city contributes to the Human Services budget. She proposed that the money could instead be used to replenish the City Manager’s Reserve Fund, which will be depleted to balance the general fund. Councilmember Linda Akey supported the motion, which would reduce the Human Services contribution from its current $8.89 to $4.41 per capita – a decrease of over 50 percent.
Councilmember Akey explained that she has done a lot of research into the organizations being funded by the city’s Human Services fund. She knows from experience that the small amount most of these organizations receive from the city is but a drop in the bucket compared to their overall budgets. In other words, they will still be providing services in Burien without getting a few thousand dollars from the city. Akey feels a smaller Human Services budget that is more carefully allocated could be more fiscally responsible and productive.
Councilmember Sarah Moore argued that the council already gave approval to the Human Services funding allocations. She said there were an especially large number of requests this year, and there are always more requests than there is money for. Moore said that receiving even a small grant is valuable to organizations who can use it as leverage to get more money, since it shows their work has the city’s support.
City Attorney Garmin Newsom said any change to the amount given to the Human Services Fund will need to be made at the policy level, not as a last minute change to the biennial budget.
Councilmember Hugo Garcia argued that if cuts are made to Human Services in order to balance the budget, similar cuts should be made to every department. The Human Services budget will be discussed by Council early in 2025.
Dec. 16 Meeting Canceled
Council voted unanimously to cancel their last planned meeting of the year, so now Dec. 9 will be the final meeting of 2024.
Video
Watch full video of the meeting here.
So, when they left the ‘debate’ for a 5-minute break, did they again violate the Open Public Meetings Act because they were solid in agreement when they came back? Did they promise DM Mora something?
Do DM Mora and CM Akey not understand that human services funding helps reduce public safety expenses?