LYNNWOOD—At its upcoming Business Meeting on Monday, July 28, the Council is to vote on revisions to its Council Rules of Procedure and further discuss the City’s budget crisis.
The upcoming 6 p.m. Business Meeting can be attended in person at City Hall or watched virtually via Zoom or Livestream. Public comments are limited to three minutes, and a 24-hour registration must be submitted by virtual attendees to participate in public comment.
Revisions to Lynnwood Council Rules and Procedures
Below is a summary of proposed changes to the Council Rules of Procedure expected to be voted by the Council at the upcoming Business Meeting on July 31:
- Elected officials “must” be visible on the video of remote meetings.
- Council members will be allowed to attend up to 10 remote meetings per year, up from a maximum of three. Also removed is the three virtual meeting restriction to count as an unexcused absence. This rule change, financially benefits council members – see Lynnwood Times explanation below.
- A lost connection in virtual attendance by a council member will no longer be counted towards the virtual attendance threshold of 10 remote meetings per year.
- Council members are no longer required to be visible on the video of remote meetings for Executive Session.
- Established a cadence deadline for upcoming meeting materials.
- Public comments during Public Hearings & Quasi-Judicial Proceedings will be limited to five minutes.
- General housekeeping and grammatical corrections.
Increasing the number of meetings a council member may attend remotely from three per year to 10, comes with a financial benefit to council members at a time the City is facing a $9.3 million budget challenge.
According to Lynnwood Municipal Code 2.04.072, Compensation of councilmembers, council members are to receive a base compensation per month in the amount of $900 plus a “per meeting” payment of $150 up to a maximum accumulated bank of $750. However, the LMC reads that “for councilmembers attending less than the five regular scheduled council meetings per month, a $150.00 deduction for the ‘per meeting’ payment bank shall occur for each meeting missed” except “if fewer than five regular council meetings are scheduled in a month” or if a council member is using one of four “excused absences, at their [councilmember] discretion, during any calendar year.”
In other words, council members will not receive full compensation of the $750 monthly portion of the meeting compensation for meetings missed in excess of four meetings. According to the currently approved Lynnwood Council Rules of Procedure, “After three virtual meetings, more [virtual meetings] shall be counted as an unexcused absence.”
If the council moves forward with the proposed rule change striking the three verbiage that removes the three virtual meeting restriction to count as an unexcused absence, then a council member would receive a financial benefit to the rule change by receiving full pay in accordance with the Lynnwood Municipal Code. As written, the proposed rule change relaxes the financial incentive for council members to attend meetings in person.
Follow-Up Information: 2025-2026 Budget
Lynnwood Finance Director Michelle Meyer and Committee Chair George Hurst reviewed the City’s 2nd Quarter 2025 Financial and Sales Tax reports on Wednesday, July 23. The City is now projecting a $5.1 million shortfall in the General Fund through second quarter in addition to an already projected $4.2 million deficit.
In a memo, Mayor Christine Frizzell chalked the shortfall up to Lynnwood’s rapidly expanding growth (and by extension an increased demand for city services), inflation, unexpected operating costs of the new Community Justice Center (CJC), increased costs for prosecutorial and indigent defense services, lower than projected sales tax collection (which makes up about 44% of the city’s general fund revenue), and a far less-than-anticipated revenue stream generated by the new photo enforcement program.
On July 21, Mayor Frizzell updated her Budget Management Plan calling on City Departments to reduce their General Fund operating costs by a target of 10%, while requesting Finance Director Meyers to re-forecast Lynnwood’s 2025-2026 to reflect zero percent growth in the city’s State Sales Tax, Development Service Charges, and Photo Enforcement revenues.
During Wednesday’s Finance Committee Meeting, all options to generate revenue were discussed including raising the City’s sales tax, reprioritizing capital projects, and creative uses of awarded grants to offset city-funded expenditures. The City’s “bank capacity” was also discussed.
In Washington state, there is a 1% limit on annual increases to property tax levies, but local governments can use “banked capacity,” in layman’s terms, unused property tax levies that is “banked” over the years to exceed the 1% annual threshold. According to Director Meyer, Lynnwood has 33.46% bank capacity (or $3.6 million) the council can levy against residents without a public vote by residents.
The council will be further discussing options on Monday to address the City’s current budget challenges.
Author: Mario Lotmore
