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Record of Proceedings

Tacoma City Council Study Session - January 7, 2025

City Council Study Session — Tuesday, January 7, 2025
BodyTacoma, Washington
SessionCity Council Study Session
DateTuesday, January 7, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
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Transcript — Verbatim
0:03

I'd like to call to order the City Council study session of January seventh, twenty twenty-five.

0:08

Clerk, will you please call the role?

0:10

Councilmember Bushnell.

0:12

Councilmember Daniels.

0:13

Councilmember Diaz.

0:17

Councilmember Diaz.

0:19

I see her.

0:20

She's there.

0:21

Deputy Mayor Hines.

0:23

Councilmember Rumba.

0:24

Here.

0:24

Councilmember Sidalgay.

0:26

Here.

0:26

Councilmember Scott.

0:28

Here.

0:29

Councilmember Walker.

0:30

Here.

0:31

Mayor Woodards.

0:32

Here.

0:33

Mayor and Council members.

0:34

The study session material was sent to you at ten fifty nine.

0:37

Thank you very much.

0:38

Well, happy new year, everyone.

0:40

Welcome to the first meeting in the new year.

0:45

We have quite a bit of work to do this year.

0:49

And so we're going to not waste any time this morning and jump right in.

0:53

But we're going to have one small change to the agenda this morning.

0:57

And our first will be entering into an executive session for ten minutes.

1:01

So I will entertain a motion to convene to an executive session pursuant to RCW forty two dot three zero dot one one zero one G to review the performance of a public employee not to exceed ten minutes.

1:14

All those in favor signify by saying aye.

1:16

Aye.

1:17

All those opposed.

1:18

The motion is declared adopted.

1:20

Once executive session concludes, we will hear the presentation for our first agenda item.

1:25

For those participating virtually, please move to the Microsoft Teams platform at this time.

1:37

And with that, we um will stand in recess um for the next ten minutes, and we'll be back.

21:01

I'd like to call back to order the study session, and we're gonna move on to our first agenda item today, which is the city council budget reduction and revenue strategy.

21:09

And I'd like to call on City Manager Polly to begin the presentation.

21:13

City manager.

21:14

Thank you.

21:15

Mayor and Council.

21:16

And as our slides come up, what we wanted to do today for you is provide a little bit of context setting.

21:23

And they're up.

21:26

They're up.

21:27

Okay, can see them as well.

21:29

So thank you.

21:29

First slide is the agenda for today.

21:32

That is I'm going to provide a little bit of an introduction to talk about what we're trying what we're going to achieve today.

21:55

Katie's going to then take over, talk about revenues, expenses, and some balancing strategies, and then I'm going to come back on and talk a little bit about the problem statement and set up the discussion for going forward.

22:09

So first of all, just hovering here on the first slide.

22:21

So what you should have in your I think everybody's binders green, your green binders.

22:39

Behind that second tab.

22:41

You have some information and on revenues and expenses as well as the balancing strategies behind the last three or the next three tabs.

22:53

Those are gonna um roughly correspond to the sections that we're gonna talk about today, but it gives you those backup materials.

23:00

And what we're hoping for you is that as we move forward in this um budget conversation and get and getting to our the additional reductions that we need that this um set of resources will be helpful to you, but we really want them to be the tool this to be the tool that you need and that you um can use during these discussions.

23:18

So if there's something that you see after you have time to go through this binder that you would like added as some uh reference materials, please let us know and we will supplement this binder to make it useful for you.

23:31

All right.

23:58

Um to the balanced budget that the council adopted.

24:03

Just as a little bit of background, as you recall, as the council amended the budget in December, the council took away the use of cash to balance that budget and and uh which led us to need to identify 8.9 million of ongoing um reductions or um uh additional revenues to get to that balanced budget over the course of of the biennium.

24:27

We talked about the fact that we had already identified a package of a little bit over five million dollars of reductions that we would be moving forward with in January.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Procedural█████████████████████████████████████████████49%
Public Finance███████████████16%
Budget Equity Analysis████████████13%
Fiscal Sustainability█████████10%
Public Engagement█████5%
Cannabis Regulation███3%
Federal Funding█1%
Personnel Matters█1%
Mental Health Awareness█1%
Summary of Proceedings

Tacoma City Council Study Session - January 7, 2025

The City Council held a study session on January 7, 2025, primarily focused on the city's budget reduction and revenue strategy and a council consideration request regarding decriminalization of entheogen-related activities. The meeting began with a 10-minute executive session to review a public employee's performance, and ended with an executive session before adjournment.

Discussion Items

  • Budget Reduction and Revenue Strategy: Context: After the council's December 2024 budget amendments removed cash balancing, the city must close an $8.9 million ongoing gap. City Manager Elizabeth Pauli noted that $5.6 million in reductions (with minimal immediate impact on priority areas) are already underway, leaving $4.7 million in cuts that will directly affect council priorities. Fiscal Sustainability Task Force: Finance Director Andy Chirulo presented the 2013 task force, a community group of 18 members that produced 28 consensus recommendations. Key observations included that there is "no silver bullet" and that the city must examine general fund service levels. Since then, the city has improved its debt rating to A+ (stable outlook), increased reserves, and enhanced fiscal transparency, but expenses (growing ~4% annually) still outpace revenues (growing ~3% annually). Revenue and Expenses: Budget Officer Katie Johnston showed that property tax growth is capped at 1% per year, while overall revenue growth averages about 3% and expense growth about 4%. Personnel services represent over 60% of general fund expenses. General fund FTEs have dropped from ~1,500 in 2009-10 to ~1,000 in 2025-26. Since 2017, incremental revenue actions (fee increases, tax changes) have generated $16.4 million annually; other fund shifts and new revenue sources have added about $65 million cumulatively. Timeline and Next Steps: Pauli proposed a series of sessions: January 7 (context setting), January 10 or 14 (in-depth review of current programs and services), followed by a session on parameters and criteria for reductions, and eventually an example reduction package. Despite Councilmembers Walker and Bushnell being unavailable, the council agreed to hold a workshop on Friday, January 10, at 1:00 PM. City Manager Pauli emphasized the urgency of making decisions quickly to avoid compounding the deficit.

  • Decriminalization of Entheogen-Related Activities: Councilmember Bushnell introduced a resolution to make the investigation, arrest, and prosecution of adult entheogen-related activities (including psilocybin) among Tacoma Police Department's lowest enforcement priorities and to express council support for full decriminalization at the state level. She cited the high rate of veteran suicides (22 per day nationally) and recent studies showing psilocybin's potential for treating PTSD, which she personally experiences from military service. The resolution explicitly does not permit driving under the influence, possession or distribution in parks or schools, commercial manufacturing/sales, or conduct that risks public safety. Bushnell stated that community outreach included Metro Parks, the police department, and health department; police reported no known arrests solely for entheogen possession in recent memory. Similar resolutions have passed in Olympia, Port Townsend, and Seattle. The resolution will be voted on January 28. Councilmembers Walker and Daniels expressed support and asked clarifying questions about federal scheduling and state-level legislation.

  • Other Items: Deputy Mayor Hines updated on a Metro Parks letter regarding the closure of senior centers, which will be on the consent agenda for the evening council meeting. He emphasized that the new partnership with Metro Parks aims to expand services to a broader senior population. Mayor Woodards reminded council of the annual appointments process, asking members to submit their requests by noon the following day for inclusion in Thursday's packet.

Key Outcomes

  • The council agreed to hold a budget workshop on Friday, January 10, 2025, at 1:00 PM to review current programs and services funded by the general fund. Councilmembers Walker and Bushnell will not attend but will receive briefings.
  • The decriminalization resolution is scheduled for a vote at the January 28 council meeting.
  • The Metro Parks senior center letter is on the consent agenda for the evening meeting.
  • Council appointments will be distributed in Thursday's packet and considered on January 14.
  • The meeting included two executive sessions (at the start and before adjournment).

Meeting Transcript

I'd like to call to order the City Council study session of January seventh, twenty twenty-five. Clerk, will you please call the role? Councilmember Bushnell. Councilmember Daniels. Councilmember Diaz. Councilmember Diaz. I see her. She's there. Deputy Mayor Hines. Councilmember Rumba. Here. Councilmember Sidalgay. Here. Councilmember Scott. Here. Councilmember Walker. Here. Mayor Woodards. Here. Mayor and Council members. The study session material was sent to you at ten fifty nine. Thank you very much. Well, happy new year, everyone. Welcome to the first meeting in the new year. We have quite a bit of work to do this year. And so we're going to not waste any time this morning and jump right in. But we're going to have one small change to the agenda this morning. And our first will be entering into an executive session for ten minutes. So I will entertain a motion to convene to an executive session pursuant to RCW forty two dot three zero dot one one zero one G to review the performance of a public employee not to exceed ten minutes. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed. The motion is declared adopted. Once executive session concludes, we will hear the presentation for our first agenda item. For those participating virtually, please move to the Microsoft Teams platform at this time. And with that, we um will stand in recess um for the next ten minutes, and we'll be back. I'd like to call back to order the study session, and we're gonna move on to our first agenda item today, which is the city council budget reduction and revenue strategy. And I'd like to call on City Manager Polly to begin the presentation. City manager. Thank you. Mayor and Council. And as our slides come up, what we wanted to do today for you is provide a little bit of context setting. And they're up. They're up. Okay, can see them as well. So thank you. First slide is the agenda for today. That is I'm going to provide a little bit of an introduction to talk about what we're trying what we're going to achieve today. Katie's going to then take over, talk about revenues, expenses, and some balancing strategies, and then I'm going to come back on and talk a little bit about the problem statement and set up the discussion for going forward. So first of all, just hovering here on the first slide.

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