LYNNWOOD—The City of Lynnwood is asking residents to take the 2025-2026 Budget Community Input Survey, and attend a Budget Open House, scheduled for 6 p.m. on Wednesday, September 11, 2024.

Every two years, the City of Lynnwood adopts a biennial budget. The upcoming budget will assign funds to programs, services, and infrastructure throughout 2025 and 2026.

The survey will remain active through early September. Survey results will be presented to the Mayor and City Council, and posted on the City’s website.

The City of Lynnwood Budget Process

The foundation of Lynnwood’s budget process consists of detailed financial forecasts; Budgeting for Outcomes (BFO) principles; sustainability; transparency; and alignment with strategic objectives, the city says on its Finance and Budget Book. BFO is also known as Priority-Based Budgeting.

For its 2023-2024 Budget, the following decision criteria was utilized:

• Consistency with strategic objectives;
• Mandates verses optional; and
• Fiscal sustainability.

Priority-based budgeting focuses upon what is needed most in the future, but the city also factors in past budgets to provide important background information, the city says.

The Biennial budget serves five essential purposes:

1. Legal document – sets forth expenditure limits by fund;
2. Financial Plan – projecting revenues and expenditures for the ensuing two years;
3. Policy Document – reflecting the City policies concerning the budget;
4. Management Tool – documenting service level commitments made by City departments; and
5. Public Information Document – describes the City’s financial condition, its service level objectives for the two budget years, and the funding sources available to meet the objectives.

Below is a typical budget process according to the approve 2023-2024 Budget book:

Budget Preparation: May to September – Based on the Council’s Goals for the community and written guidance from the Mayor, departments develop and submit baseline budgets and personnel information to the Finance Department. Budget requests are compiled and analyzed for the Mayor’s review. The Mayor holds meetings with individual departments to review the budgets and budget issues. A public hearing is conducted to gather community input on budget priorities. The Mayor makes budget revisions and Finance prepares the budget document and supporting information for presentation to the City Council and to the public. The Mayor’s proposed budget is presented to the Council at the first Council Business Meeting in October.

Budget Adoption: October-December – City Council holds public budget work sessions with the Mayor and Department Directors. Preliminary recommendations are developed, and a formal public hearing is scheduled to allow the public to comment on the annual budget. Concurrently, a public hearing is held regarding City operating revenues and the levy of property taxes, the City Council may make changes before adopting the budget. Finance then makes the final budget adjustments and updates the budget ordinance and final budget document before publication.

Budget Execution/Amendments: The adopted budget is recorded in the City’s accounting system in detailed expenditure and revenue accounts. Throughout the year, the City monitors the expenditures and revenues. Quarterly reports of the City’s financial status are reviewed by the Finance Committee and shared with the City Council. The Mayor is authorized to transfer budgeted amounts within any fund; however, any revisions that alter the total expenditures of any fund must be approved by the City Council by budget amendment. A mid-biennial budget review process is required.