[{"_1":2,"_87":-5,"_88":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},"mediaId",6196984,"mediaKeyId","3854432-a7cc32a00b7703dd1d6ea5733d8fd495","parentId",3854432,"title","Residents question trolley use of TBD funds, urge road repairs; Yakima Valley Trolleys offers fundraising help","audioSeconds",615,"startMs",73000,"endMs",688000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=3854432-a7cc32a00b7703dd1d6ea5733d8fd495&start=73&end=688","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3854432-a7cc32a00b7703dd1d6ea5733d8fd495/thumbnail_73000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6196984/Yakima-City/Yakima-County/Washington/Residents-question-trolley-use-of-TBD-funds-urge-road-repairs-Yakima-Valley-Trolleys-offers-fundraising-help","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6196984-25f718bf55aaaa94b01d71791883883e/orig.mp4?Expires=1771203874&Signature=Zt5PskE8HgmWkjPnZPXh73XeBk8TZaT7-7dJP44vdP3s3E2eY8i2SzTsy5t40FB8M83CgU6lMIgK65i-AD6XtdUcdFQ1EkGviz~SBOKvAIWgnHEYw-ztx1xLFBLLrDEcjlw-meISuCKceVQQlEnel~NR616Uo4kvQ~jlqwvqpnRAgqC2lz3EBRtexFehwHfY-AytVJkvrhiDpEWxiNqnD5~055IzhUB41Er5SHo0wg6EsjVZ5v2Hz77Q3vu2Mz2PdQYsN4ZWJTzhv5F7owqL85YbbgChREbJzfUKl03rCMPQCpeEClgfCSICMAF7YiOK3JChnUAmHfxKdwc1GnIBRw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Yakima City, WA","date","2025-06-10T00:00:00Z","article","Public comment at the Yakima City Council meeting focused on two linked themes: street maintenance needs in neighborhoods and debate over Transportation Benefit District (TBD) money for a proposed trolley element of the Sixth Avenue Rehabilitation Project.

Resident Randall Levsky told the council: \"When you're $8,000,000, in the red, they can TBD money for something as frivolous as the trolley.\" Levsky said streets in his neighborhood are \"asphalt over dirt, not road base\" and that recurring sinking and cracking has safety implications, particularly for bicyclists.

Ann Knapp, another resident who spoke during public comment, asked what caused the roughly $9 million deficit and urged the council to consider impact fees for future development. Knapp suggested the Municipal Research and Services Center could assist with drafting impact-fee ordinances and said impact fees would help pay for neighborhood access improvements such as crosswalks to the Nob Hill development.

Ken Johnson, president of Yakima Valley Trolleys, told the council the trolley group is \"committed to working with you to find as many sources of outside money to add to the TBD fund that you already have.\" Johnson said the group has begun compiling grant lists, hired a fundraiser and recommended phasing the Sixth Avenue project to spread costs and avoid overruns. Clayton Bussey, a member of the city’s Historic Preservation Commission, echoed that commission’s support for preserving the trolley and said the commission will continue grant-writing and funding searches.

Other public commenters raised several separate concerns: one thanked public works staff for alley repairs; another urged the council to resist becoming a \"mini Seattle or mini California\" on immigration policy; and a few speakers raised procedural complaints about public-comment time limits and meeting rules. Tony Sandoval asked the council to consider forming an economic-development committee, citing several past community projects that had succeeded through coordinated volunteer efforts.

Why this matters: the comments tie into the council’s study-session discussion of the 2026 budget and the city’s recommendation to reserve TBD funds for transportation capital. If the council or voters choose to divert TBD funds, or to change TBD fee or sales-tax levels, that decision will intersect with competing priorities for street maintenance, other capital repairs and the trolley preservation effort.

Next steps: the staff recommended reserving TBD revenue for capital transportation needs; the Yakima Valley Trolleys group said it will continue fundraising and grant-seeking to reduce pressure on city capital funds.

Public-comment provenance: remarks by Levsky, Knapp, Lopez, Johnson and Bussey appear in the transcript’s public-comment block and the early portion of the study-session discussion.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Yakima City Council Study Session 06-10-25","oneSentenceSummary","Public commenters urged the council to prioritize ground-up street repairs over spending TBD funds on a proposed trolley, while Yakima Valley Trolleys pledged outside fundraising and grants.","taxTitle","Yakima City, Yakima County, Washington","taxId",12681,"location","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6196989,"Yakima staff outline $9 million 2026 budget gap; recommend public-safety and parks levies plus fee changes",2785,965000,3750000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=3854432-a7cc32a00b7703dd1d6ea5733d8fd495&start=965&end=3750","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3854432-a7cc32a00b7703dd1d6ea5733d8fd495/thumbnail_965000.jpg","/articles/6196989/Yakima-City/Yakima-County/Washington/Yakima-staff-outline-9-million-2026-budget-gap-recommend-public-safety-and-parks-levies-plus-fee-changes","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6196989-c10dc50a8d8e6022f22c1049952e90cd/orig.mp4?Expires=1771203874&Signature=jRTC0ZharnMbn1Rimq9lr9o7TZYokojhuwsC4tiUpPfGX1CtGVDxmjfTgjZshw1ML91IrpSayWsdQr0MpnY3o9Hm7GWvy5JkEkF~moW9y9Nq5mxNOKLGKBS55sbtlTHIvZufA2tqcJzDpAUDg5dVw0YG4xAQoS2nk8dn0tKep~JatGuxfbg07QRuLYxMB-awn8LFqbFmF97-4AOVjH0NQrekbN0cCt-WteUtUJpScuXLvIP2~ycvtmWqA0R5aZw3fo2kWSlCL7xE64LY8ZeTfBO-3a7NUSsOzg3qN-NQJ8pzPfUIekUEEF8Q5534hdQKhsj-nKL~~r97Pvw3uTonlg__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","City Manager Vicki Baker and finance staff told the Yakima City Council during a study session that the city faces “a deficit of approximately $9,000,000” for the 2026 general fund and laid out a menu of cuts and revenue options to close the gap.

Baker, who led the presentation with staff, said the city has spent the last year adopting “priority based budgeting” and asked council members to weigh which services the community wants to keep. Finance presenter Craig Warner said the shortfall exists in part because one-time federal ARPA funds and higher reserves used to balance the 2025 budget will no longer be available for 2026.

The staff presentation grouped possible actions into three broad approaches: (1) expenditure reductions totaling about $9 million if the council chose to make cuts only; (2) voter-approved levies to restore some services; and (3) targeted revenue changes and fee adjustments. Warner summarized the scale: \"we have a deficit of approximately $9,000,000.\" He and Baker emphasized that many of the line items would need additional analysis before being finalized.

Cuts on the staff list ranged across parks, public safety and other services. The presentation cited examples with dollar estimates taken from the city budget: closing Fire Station 92 (about $1.7 million), eliminating the gang unit ($1,000,000), closing the Lions Pool (net $479,000), reducing parks maintenance ($500,000), eliminating the YPD property crimes unit ($750,000), and eliminating trolley maintenance. Staff said the public-safety-related reductions made up roughly $5.6 million of the total proposed cuts, parks about $2.0 million and other services about $1.4 million.

Staff recommended a package of two levies as a principal revenue approach: a public-safety levy of roughly $5.4 million and a parks-and-recreation levy of about $1.8 million, plus $1.8 million of remaining service reductions and fee increases. Using the city’s stated average assessed-value home ($356,395), staff estimated the public-safety levy would cost an average homeowner about $160 per year (about $13.36 per month). The parks levy was estimated to cost an average homeowner about $53 per year. Combined, staff said a single city-service levy covering the entire $9 million shortfall would translate to about $22 per month for the average assessed home.

Warner presented alternative revenue options and timetable constraints. Staff said a councilmanic utility tax could be enacted more quickly and that “every 1% increase in your utility tax is gonna generate about a half a million dollars,” while a TBD fee increase (from $20 toward $40) or a TBD sales tax could generate $1.7 million to $2.7 million annually but staff recommended reserving TBD revenue for transportation capital instead of the general fund. Staff also summarized that a recently authorized 0.1% public-safety sales-tax carve-out at the state level contains programmatic requirements and would require analysis before the city could rely on it.

Several council members asked for more detail and for staff to validate the line-item estimates before the council commits to a ballot measure. Council members and staff discussed timing constraints: the county’s ballot deadline is in early August, and staff said they would need time to finalize levy language, legal review and financial vetting. Staff asked for a council direction by roughly the first council meeting in July if the council intends to place measures on the November ballot.

Staff also outlined longer-term revenue options that require studies and voter approval, including creation of a fire district or a metropolitan park district and adoption of impact fees for new development. Those options were discussed as multiyear solutions, not immediate fixes for 2026.

Direction and next steps from the meeting: staff will re-verify the savings and cost estimates for any items left on the cut list, provide more precise staffing and program impacts, and return with refined levy sizing and language for council consideration. The budget advisory committee will also weigh in and staff said it would deliver additional detail as quickly as practical given the county deadlines.

Votes at a glance: the only formal motion recorded in the transcript was a procedural motion to adjourn the meeting to the next regular council meeting on 2025-06-17 at 5:30 p.m.; the motion was seconded and the chair called the ayes.

Why this matters: the choices before the council would affect police and fire staffing, parks and recreation programs and facilities, and a range of city-maintained services. Staff and several council members warned that relying solely on reserves or one-time federal funds is not sustainable and that a mix of revenue and cuts will likely be necessary to stabilize 2026 and beyond.","City staff told the Yakima City Council that the general fund faces an approximately $9 million shortfall for 2026 and presented options including deep service cuts, a public-safety levy, a parks levy, fee increases, and other revenue tools such as a utility tax or Transportation Benefit District (TBD) changes.","actionData","errors"]

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Residents question trolley use of TBD funds, urge road repairs; Yakima Valley Trolleys offers fundraising help

Yakima staff outline $9 million 2026 budget gap; recommend public-safety and parks levies plus fee changes