Olympia City Council Meeting - November 4, 2025: Budget, MFTE, and Public Hearings
Olympia City Council Meeting - November 4, 2025: Budget, MFTE, and Public Hearings
Note: The minutes and transcript indicate the meeting occurred on Monday, November 3, 2025, but the provided date is November 4, 2025. This summary uses the required date.
The Olympia City Council held a regular business meeting on November 4, 2025, featuring three public hearings on the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), the 2026 Preliminary Operating Budget, and the Preliminary Capital Facilities Plan (CFP) 2026-2031. The council also reviewed proposed utility rates, fees, and special revenue budgets, and discussed the Multifamily Property Tax Exemption (MFTE) program. Key themes included addressing community food insecurity due to the federal government shutdown, balancing the budget through reductions and new taxes, and evaluating the equity of tax exemption policies.
Consent Calendar
- Items 4A-4D were approved unanimously (6-0, with Councilmember Madrone excused):
- Approval of October 21, 2025, meeting minutes.
- Authorization of an 8-year MFTE agreement with Urban Olympia 16A, LLC for the Legion and Jefferson project.
- Authorization of two 8-year MFTE agreements with Fourth Street’s Cottages, LLC for Cottage Apartments.
- Amendment to the interlocal agreement with Tumwater for Community Assistance Referral and Education Services.
Public Comments & Testimony
- MFTE Program (Consent Items 4B & 4C): Six speakers opposed the tax exemptions, arguing they shift property tax burdens onto other taxpayers and do not produce affordable housing. Speakers included Jim Lazar, Larry Dzieza, Ronda Carson Kramer, Lisa Riner, and John Newman. They characterized the MFTE as a "reverse Robin Hood action" that subsidizes wealthy developers while working families and retirees pay more.
- Transportation Improvement Program: Two speakers (Jim Lazar, Karen Messmer) supported the TIP but raised concerns about pedestrian safety crossing treatments, urging use of HAWK signals instead of rapid flashing beacons. Messmer also called for adequate staffing to implement projects.
- 2026 Operating Budget: Two speakers (Jim Lazar, Karen Messmer) commented. Lazar identified a calculation error in the budget regarding parks funding and urged reconvening a budget advisory committee. Messmer stressed that relying on vacancies to save money is unsustainable and that staffing is needed for transportation safety projects.
- Capital Facilities Plan: Three speakers (Jim Lazar, Kate Davis, Karen Messmer) spoke. Lazar applauded programming of transportation benefit district funds but reiterated safety concerns. Davis highlighted school district partnerships (Freedom Farm, safe routes to school). Messmer emphasized that CFP investments are economic development and urged use of safest crossing technologies.
Discussion Items
- MFTE Program Debate: Councilmembers extensively discussed the program after public comment. Mayor Pro Tem Huỳnh expressed empathy with concerns about tax shifts. Councilmember Cooper called for establishing performance indicators (e.g., vacancy rates) to guide when to adjust the program. Councilmember Gilman requested project-by-project evaluation and transparent reporting on tax burden per household. City Manager Burney noted that staff committed to developing performance measures for all housing incentives in 2024 and that the current projects followed approved policy. The council agreed to continue evaluation but approved the consent calendar as presented, with Burney suggesting the topic be added to the Land Use and Environment Committee’s 2025 work plan.
- 2026 Operating Budget Presentation: Finance Director Michael Githens presented the $230 million preliminary budget, which assumes a 0.1% public safety sales tax increase (estimated $1.5M in 2026, $3M full year) and a Business & Occupation (B&O) tax increase (0.002 for most categories, 0.0015 for retail, with a $500,000 threshold). The budget includes $1.28 million in reductions, including unfilled vacancies, and enhancements such as a four-person sidewalk repair team ($830K first year). Councilmembers praised staff work and noted the budget is sustainable for the near term but acknowledged difficult decisions.
- Transportation Improvement Program: Senior Engineer Joey Jones presented projects including Capitol Way South overlay, Martin Way corridor design, Pacific Avenue enhanced crosswalks, and Mottman Road improvements. Council expressed support for safety improvements but questioned project timelines and staffing.
- Capital Facilities Plan: Associate Planner Casey Schaufler presented the $77.9 million 2026 capital budget, with $46.9 million for parks (Armory Creative Campus, Yelm Highway Community Park), $10.7 million for transportation, and utility projects. Discussion included fire station remodels, the West Olympia 101 interchange project (funding uncertain), and staff recruitment challenges.
- Utility Rates, Fees, and Special Revenues: Multiple staff presented proposed 3.74% increase in typical bi-monthly utility bills, 5% increase in General Facility Charges, 2.7% increase in permit fees, and 10% increase in transportation impact fees (catch-up from prior years). Parking citation fees were proposed to increase after five years without changes. Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC) recommendations totaled $1.04 million for 31 applications; council requested more detail on scoring and original requests before approval, to be provided at the November 10 meeting. The Housing and Homeless Response budget relies on state encampment resolution funding and faces challenges from unexpected costs (e.g., hazardous tree removal, encampment cleanup).
Key Outcomes
- Consent Calendar adopted 6-0.
- Public Hearings on TIP, Operating Budget, and CFP were held and closed; formal adoption votes scheduled for December.
- Council directed City Manager Burney to explore a food bank donation from council goal money (approx. $100,000 available) and coordinate with other jurisdictions to address SNAP benefit disruptions.
- Council requested additional information on LTAC funding recommendations (scoring and original request amounts) for the November 10 meeting.
- MFTE program will be revisited in 2026 as part of the Land Use and Environment Committee work plan; no moratorium or immediate policy changes were enacted.
- Staff will provide a briefing on pedestrian safety lighting technologies and automatic enforcement options for school zones and crosswalks.
- Next meetings: November 10 (Monday) for budget update and first readings of tax ordinances; November 18 for second hearings and final budget adoption in December.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening and welcome to the Monday, November 3rd, 2025 regular business meeting of the Olympia City Council. For the record, we have a quorum with Councilmember Madrone excuse tonight. So before we move on to the agenda, I want to remind the community that tomorrow night is election night, which is why we are meeting this evening on a Monday, and we'll be doing so again next Monday because it is Veterans Day on Tuesday. So please remember to vote tomorrow. You have until 8 p.m. to get your ballot in one of our drop box locations throughout the county. So before we move on to adoption of the agenda, I'd like to call forward our assistant city manager, Stacy Ray, for an announcement. All right. Thank you for the record. Assistant City Manager Stacey Ray. I just want to take a moment to acknowledge that we may have community members right now that are facing challenges in accessing food resources. And just want to let community members know we want to share information that we have locally available assistance for food resources right now, uh, that we've added some information to our website and are pushing information out through our social media channels so that folks who are struggling or may not have access to their regular food benefits that they might get through the federal government can also know that they can access the local food bank. So our Thurston County Food Bank is operating pantries and satellite sites across the area. And so we'll have that information available on our website how folks can access the food bank. We also want to let seniors, families, and uh families with young children and uh school district students know that there are dedicated options. So please reach out to Senior Services for South Sound for access for seniors. Um, and uh there's still meals available through the schools as well for students. And uh the Washington State Depart Department of Health website is providing information around access to um WIC benefits. We also just want to add for community members who are able to, it's a very important and critical time to either donate or participate in gathering food. So we just encourage those that are able to participate in helping our friends and uh fellow community members and neighbors right now during this time. So thank you. Thank you very much, Stacey. Any comments or questions? All right, thank you. It's a very important time. Um, and I just want the community to know that we are um keeping a track of what's happening on the SNAP benefits issue as our uh federal government remains shut down. And it is on the minds of each of your members on the council. Um, and we have been having conversations with uh other offices at the state and federal levels as well. So with that, I need a motion to approve tonight's agenda. Move to approve. Second. All those in favor of the motion signify by saying aye. Aye. We have an agenda. So we have no special recognition tonight, which is rare for us. Um we're gonna go ahead and move on to public comment. Uh, we have a few people that are signed up. One person is here in person, followed by the remainder of our public commenters joining us on Zoom tonight. Uh so we're gonna go ahead and begin. Uh, but before I do, we do have one person that hasn't spoken um in the last 30 days. So just a reminder that we are in an election season. Uh, so please refrain from expressing your support or opposition to a candidate or ballot measure uh in your comments tonight. So we'll go ahead and begin with Jim Lazar. You have two minutes for your comments. Good to see you. Thank you. Uh Jim Lazar, 1907 Lakehurst Drive. I'm speaking in opposition to consent calendar items 4B and 4C. I urge you to pull them and not approve them. These would give two millionaire developers, Walker John and Scott Womack, about three million dollars in subsidies for their projects, which would enable them to outcompete other developers who have other projects.
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