Bellingham City Budget FY2015–2026
General Fund actuals FY2015–FY2024 (audited) · FY2026 budget basis · City of Bellingham, WA
Dollar amounts as reported — not adjusted for inflation or population change.
Calendar Years 2018–2024
By Department
OT Rate by Department — 2024
Fire OT Rate — 2018–2024
Employer Pension Cost by Formula — 2024
Formula Tier Distribution — 2018–2024
Pension formulas determine both the benefit employees receive at retirement and the employer contribution rate required to fund it. Classic formulas (pre-2013 hires) have higher benefits and higher employer costs than PEPRA formulas (post-2013 hires). The city cannot unilaterally change pension formulas for existing employees — changes require collective bargaining and apply only to new hires.
Unassigned Fund Balance — Freely Available Reserves
GFOA guidance recommends unassigned fund balance meet the two-month minimum. Assigned reserves are earmarked for specific purposes and may not be available for emergency use.
Miscellaneous Plan
General employees (non-safety)
Safety Plan
Police & Fire personnel
Note: this analysis may show a structural operating surplus even in years where the city's overall fund balance declined. This is not a contradiction. The General Fund's recurring operations — taxes collected, services delivered, departments staffed — have generated modest surpluses in recent audited years. The fund balance declines seen in years like FY2024 were driven by inter-fund transfers out (money moved to capital project funds, debt service, and other funds) — financing decisions that are separate from operating performance. Conversely, the FY2025 fund balance recovery was driven by those same transfers not being executed, not by stronger operations. Structural balance isolates the operating layer from the financing layer so both can be evaluated independently.
Recurring revenues: taxes, charges for services, intergovernmental, licenses/permits/fees, fines, use of money/property, other operating revenues. One-time items excluded: proceeds from sale of assets. Transfers classified as financing activities, shown separately. Recurring expenditures: all departmental operating expenditures. One-time items excluded: capital outlay.
Tax Revenue — FY2018–FY2025
All-Funds Overview
Where the city's money comes from, where it goes, and how inter-fund transfers affect the headline budget number.
Inter-fund transfers by source → destination. Band width is proportional to dollar amount. Top 20 flows shown.
Own revenues, transfers in/out, and net expenditures for each fund group.
Capital Assets & Infrastructure
Everything the city owns that has long-term value — roads, bridges, buildings, parks, and utility systems. The chart splits these between governmental assets (things like fire stations, roads, and parks that serve the public directly) and business-type assets (the water and sewer systems, which are run more like a utility and funded through customer rates). The values shown are net book value — what each asset originally cost minus the wear and tear accumulated over its lifetime.
Assets wear out over time. This chart shows, for each asset type, how much of its original cost has already been "used up" through depreciation — and how much useful life remains. The % consumed badges give a quick read: 50% consumed means roughly half the asset's lifespan is gone; 80%+ means replacement planning should be underway. High consumption across multiple categories can signal a growing infrastructure backlog.
The Capital Improvement Program (CIP) is the city's multi-year plan for building and upgrading infrastructure — new roads, park renovations, water main replacements, and similar projects. Each bar shows a project category's total estimated cost, broken into what's already been spent, what's budgeted for the current fiscal year, and what still needs to be funded. A large "remaining" segment means significant spending is planned but not yet appropriated.
Operations and Maintenance (O&M) is the annual cost of keeping existing assets running — mowing parks, patching roads, maintaining water pipes, and staffing the departments that do that work. Unlike the CIP, which builds new things, O&M keeps current assets functional. Rising O&M budgets over time can reflect aging infrastructure requiring more upkeep, service expansions, or cost increases.
Data from City of Bellingham official records via bellingham.civicmined.org
Sustainability Indicators
Net Financial Position
Liquid assets minus total liabilities. Negative means obligations exceed financial assets — city is relying on future revenues to cover past bills.
Financial Assets-to-Liabilities
Liquid assets ÷ total liabilities. Below 1.0 means the city cannot pay off its obligations with its financial assets alone.
Assets-to-Liabilities
Total assets (including infrastructure) ÷ total liabilities. Below 1.0 = insolvent. Above 1.0 = owns more than it owes.
Net Debt-to-Total Revenues
How many years of revenue it would take to pay off net debt. Zero means the city has no net debt (positive net position). Rising trend = unsustainable.
Flexibility Indicators
Interest-to-Total Revenues
% of revenue consumed by interest payments. Rising = past borrowing crowding out current services.
Net Book-to-Cost of Capital Assets
Current value ÷ original cost of infrastructure. Declining trend = aging assets, falling behind on maintenance.
Vulnerability Indicator
Government Transfers-to-Total Revenues
Share of revenue from state/federal aid. Rising = more vulnerable to political or budget shifts outside local control.
Based on the Strong Towns Finance Decoder (v1.0.2). Indicators computed from governmental activities data only; capital-asset figures cover depreciable assets. Some years are pending ACFR backfill.