Follow the money · Bellingham, Washington
Where your public dollars actually go.
An independent, interactive look at the two biggest public budgets in town — the City of Bellingham and Bellingham Public Schools. Drag the sliders, scrub through the years, click any slice. Every figure is sourced; estimates are flagged.
These are two separate governments. The City and the School District have separate budgets, separate elected boards, and separate taxes. A school closing does not move a dollar of the city budget — so we show them side by side, never blended.
City · total budget 2026
City · General Fund balance
City · per resident
Schools · general fund 25-26
Schools · forecast gap
Data last updated: June 10, 2026
City of Bellingham · moves with the year slider
Where the 2026 budget goes
Every city fund combined, by spending category. Drag the year slider above to watch it shift across 2022–2026.
| Category | Amount | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Other services and charges | $244.7M | 45.0% |
| Salaries and wages | $124.7M | 22.9% |
| Capital outlays | $93.1M | 17.1% |
| Personnel benefits | $46.3M | 8.5% |
| Supplies | $15.7M | 2.9% |
| Debt service | $12.9M | 2.4% |
| Transfers out | $6.9M | 1.3% |
That is $5,470 per resident across all city funds (2026, population ~99,500).
City of Bellingham
The whole city budget, by fund
The City runs more than 50 funds. Most are locked to a purpose — water and sewer rates can only fund utilities, levies only fund what voters approved. Only the General Fund is flexible, and it is where the squeeze is.
| Fund type | Amount | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise (water, sewer, storm) | $162.0M | 29.8% |
| Special revenue (levies, dedicated taxes) | $147.7M | 27.1% |
| General Fund | $129.0M | 23.7% |
| Internal service | $78.9M | 14.5% |
| Construction | $20.2M | 3.7% |
| Public Facilities District | $3.6M | 0.7% |
| Debt service | $2.9M | 0.5% |
City funds only — Bellingham Public Schools is a separate government with its own budget (see Schools, below), so it is not one of these funds. Total expenditure by fund type. Drag the year slider to move across 2022–2026; each fund shows its change vs the prior year (▲ bigger, ▼ smaller). Figures use the same basis as the trend chart — actual 2022–2024, preliminary 2025, adopted 2026 — so each year totals to the all-funds figure shown there. Because 2026 is the full adopted budget versus 2025 preliminary spend, capital-heavy funds (e.g. Construction) show large jumps. By-fund-type figures are aggregated from the City’s individual fund schedules and reconcile to the citywide total; three funds closed since 2022 are folded into Enterprise and Internal Service for earlier years. Source: City of Bellingham 2026 & 2025 Adopted Budgets, pp.37, 53–97.
City of Bellingham · year over year
How fast spending is growing
Total spending across every fund has climbed every single year. Click any column to jump the year slider to it.
Total spending, 2022–2026
Up 65% since 2022 · red = year-over-year increase
| Year | Total spending | Basis | Change vs prior year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | $329.1M | actual | — |
| 2023 | $354.7M | actual | +7.8% |
| 2024 | $426.4M | actual | +20.2% |
| 2025 | $473.8M | preliminary | +11.1% |
| 2026 | $544.3M | adopted | +14.9% |
Actual spend for 2022–2024, preliminary 2025, adopted 2026 (all funds). Source: 2026 Adopted Budget, p.40. A true audited budget-vs-actual variance lives in the City’s annual ACFR.
City of Bellingham · five-year view
What’s getting more expensive, what’s holding the line
Every spending category, ranked by how much it changed from 2022 to 2026 (all funds). Fast growth shows in warm colors; flat or shrinking in green. Hover any bar for the dollars.
City of Bellingham · General Fund · in and out both move with the year slider
The General Fund: in, and out
This is the flexible money that pays for police, fire, parks and libraries — about $129 million a year. Drag the five-year slider below to watch both sides shift across 2022–2026: where the money comes from, and where it goes by department.
Where the 2026 money comes from
General Fund revenue by major source. Source: City of Bellingham 2026 Adopted Budget, pp. 43–46.
Where the 2026 money goes
General Fund expenditure by department. Source: City of Bellingham 2026 Adopted Budget, department schedules (pp. 100–151).
City of Bellingham · reserves
What’s in the bank — and the projected drawdown
Beyond the yearly budget, the City keeps reserves — cash and near-cash set aside inside each fund. Here is how much is in the bank entering 2026, and how much the adopted budget plans to spend down.
Only 2025 and 2026 line up cleanly here: the City budgeted in two-year cycles before 2025 and changed how it defines “reserves,” so older books are not apples-to-apples for this section. (The charts higher up the page still scroll the full five years.)
City · reserves entering 2026
City · reserves end of 2026
City · projected 2026 drawdown
City · General Fund rainy-day reserve
How the cushion is drawn down in 2026
A nearly $39M drawdown sounds alarming, but almost all of it is planned, restricted spending. Water, sewer, stormwater, street and parks funds are spending savings they deliberately set aside for specific capital projects — a treatment-plant upgrade, road work, trail land. That is save-then-spend, not living beyond means. The City’s one truly flexible cushion — the General Fund rainy-day reserve — barely moved, from $17.4M to $17.1M.
Largest projected reserve uses in 2026
By fund — click any name for what the money is for. These are individual fund drawdowns; other funds add to reserves, so they do not sum to the net figure above.
Reserves = assets the City expects to have on hand within the year minus near-term liabilities (mostly cash). Source: City of Bellingham 2026 Adopted Budget, p.33 — Changes in Estimated Reserve Balances Report.
Make it personal · your property tax
Where your property-tax dollar actually goes
The City budget is one thing; your property-tax bill is another. On a $650,000 Bellingham home that is about $5,394 a year — and most of it never touches the City. Set your own value below; here is who actually gets it.
Schools (state + local)
City of Bellingham
County, EMS, Port & more
…the flexible City General Fund
Your home’s 2026 property tax, by destination
Click any line for what it pays for. The City row is highlighted — its own split is just below.
Inside the City’s share — where that $893 goes
On this same $650,000 home the bill works out to $6,038 at the 2022 rate and $5,394 at the 2026 rate — lower today only because the rate per $1,000 fell as assessed values rose; real bills still climbed with assessments.
The value above is illustrative; property tax is calculated on the County’s assessed value, which may differ. Rate = 2026 consolidated levy for Bellingham tax code area 0100 (8.298 per $1,000, about 0.83%). Source: Whatcom County Assessor, 2026 Annual Tax Book.
Make it personal · cost of living
What you pay, unit by unit — five years
What a Bellingham household pays per unit — water per 100 cubic feet, power per kWh, gas per therm, property tax per $1,000 of value — from 2022 to 2026. Only water is the City; electricity (PSE) and gas (Cascade) are private utilities the City does not set.
Each unit price, indexed to 2022 = 100
City water from City of Bellingham rate sheets (exact). Electricity (PSE) and natural gas (Cascade Natural Gas) are approximate effective rates — typical bill divided by typical use — from WA UTC rate orders and company tariffs; both are private, UTC-regulated utilities, not the City. Property-tax rate = consolidated levy for tax code area 0100, Whatcom County Assessor. Property tax on the typical home = the countywide average single-family assessed value (WA Dept of Revenue, Property Tax Statistics 2022–2025, single-family parcels and values by county; the 2026 value applies the Assessor’s ~3.5% 2025 revaluation change, flagged est) times that same Bellingham rate — this line tracks what the typical owner actually pays as assessed values rise.
The parts with no “unit”: flat City fees & the 2025 garbage jump
Single-family sewer and stormwater are flat monthly charges, not per-unit. Garbage has no published rate history — but its 2025 cost jump is on the record.
The real 2025 garbage story: the City roughly doubled the solid-waste utility tax (an effective 13% to about 21%) and added a mandatory $13.69/month FoodPlus food- and yard-waste pickup. The per-can rate itself is set by the contractor and not published as a series, so it is not charted here.
City water/sewer/stormwater from City of Bellingham rate sheets; solid-waste utility tax from Bellingham Municipal Code 4.76 + city waste-changes FAQ; FoodPlus from Cascadia Daily News.
City of Bellingham · interactive
Balance the budget yourself
The 2026 General Fund is the lever the City actually controls. Move the sliders to cut or grow departments and revenues, and watch the bottom line. Starting point: the adopted budget.
General Fund bottom line
Bellingham Public Schools · a separate government
Now, the school district
Bellingham Public Schools (District #501) is its own taxing authority with its own board and budget — roughly $233 million, funded mostly by the state plus voter levies. Its problems are real, but they are not the city’s problems, and vice versa.
General fund
Original gap
Positions cut
Enrollment
Where school money comes from
State funds the majority; voter levies cover roughly a quarter. Source: OSPI F-196.
Where school money goes
About three-quarters goes to teaching and teaching support. Source: OSPI F-196.
Bellingham Public Schools · interactive
Balance the school budget yourself
This is the district’s general fund. Keeping today’s programs and staffing would cost about $15M more than projected revenue — the shortfall the district forecast for 2025-26 — so you start in the hole. Move the sliders to cut spending, raise revenue, or close schools and watch the gap close. Because state money follows students, the enrollment slider drives state funding up or down too. The category splits are estimates, so treat this as a what-if, not exact figures.
School general fund bottom line
Bellingham Public Schools
Enrollment, and the closure question
Fewer babies a decade ago means fewer students now. That — not the city budget — is what is driving talk of closing an elementary school.
Students enrolled
Down about 600 students since 2019-20; the district projects a loss of up to 1,000 between 2018 and 2028. Dashed segment is projected. Year values are modeled from cited anchors (flagged). Source: BPS / Cascadia Daily News.
The closure timeline
As of this build, no Bellingham school has closed. In May 2026 a district task force recommended closing Carl Cozier and Columbia elementaries, but the superintendent and board have not made a final decision, and the earliest any closure could take effect is fall 2027.
City of Bellingham · the people behind the budget
Who runs Bellingham
The Mayor proposes the city budget each year; the seven-member City Council debates, amends and adopts it. Click anyone below to read their role, term and what they have publicly said they stand for — every profile is sourced and nonpartisan.
Profiles summarize each official’s stated priorities and public record, drawn from the City of Bellingham and local news. Independent and nonpartisan — not affiliated with the City of Bellingham.
Scrutiny & controversy · what the reporting says
Is money being wasted?
There is no fraud or “waste” scandal in the public record. The real story is a structural squeeze — costs (mostly labor) rising faster than revenue — plus a couple of unpopular fee decisions. Here is the honest version, with sources.
Make it personal
Tools & plain English
What would the 0.1% sales tax cost you?
The proposed public-safety tax is one penny on every $10 of taxable spending. Enter what you spend in a typical year on taxable goods:
0.1% = $1 per $1,000 spent. Groceries, rent and many services are not subject to retail sales tax, so real impact is typically lower.
Plain-English glossary
Key budget terms
- General Fund
- The flexible pot of tax money the City can spend on almost anything — police, fire, parks, libraries. Where the deficit is.
- Enterprise fund
- A self-supporting fund paid by user fees, like water and sewer. Rates can only fund that utility.
- Levy
- A voter-approved property tax for a specific purpose (parks, schools, housing). Restricted money.
- B&O tax
- Business & Occupation tax — a tax on a business’s gross receipts.
- Apportionment
- The main pot of state money sent to school districts, based largely on enrollment.
- Reserves
- Money the City has saved in its funds — its “bank balance.” The 2026 budget draws down about $39M of reserves, mostly for planned capital projects.
- Reserve drawdown
- Spending more in a year than comes in, covering the gap from savings — common for one-time capital work.
- Capital vs. operating
- Operating money runs services day to day (salaries, supplies); capital money builds long-lived things (buildings, roads, parks).
- FTE / position
- A full-time-equivalent job. The 2026 budget cut 40-plus positions, about 30 FTE.
- Fiscal year
- The 12-month budget year. Bellingham’s matches the calendar year (January–December).
- Biennium
- A two-year budget. Bellingham budgeted biennially through 2023–24, then switched to annual budgets starting 2025.
- ACFR
- Annual Comprehensive Financial Report — the City’s audited year-end actuals, where budget-vs-actual is reconciled.
Thinking of moving here?
How Bellingham compares
Taxes and home prices in the places people move to Bellingham from. Washington has no state income tax — the single biggest swing for many newcomers. Tap a column to sort, or a city to see what changes.
Median single-family price and effective rates, 2025–2026, from each relocation guide’s cited sources; figures are approximate and move with the market. Income tax = top state (or, for BC, provincial) marginal rate — everyone also pays federal income tax. Bellingham property tax per the Whatcom County Assessor (TCA 0100).
Comparing from one of these cities?
The table covers taxes and home prices; the moving-to-Bellingham guides cover the rest — neighborhoods, schools, commutes, and what a sale in your current city actually buys here. Prefer to ask a person? Talk to a local broker — real questions welcome, no mailing list, no pressure.
Get notified when the 2027 budget drops
The City proposes its 2027 budget in fall 2026. Leave an email and you will get one note when this page is updated with the new numbers — nothing else.
One email when the 2027 numbers land — or write to genaro@bellwetherrealestate.com and you will be added by hand.
Changelog — what changed on this page
- June 10, 2026 — Cost-of-living chart: added a “property tax, typical home” line so rising assessed values show up — the rate per $1,000 fell about 11% since 2022, but the bill on the typical home rose about 31% (bill = countywide average single-family assessed value, WA Dept of Revenue, times the Bellingham rate; the 2026 value applies the Assessor’s ~3.5% 2025 revaluation, flagged est).
- June 9, 2026 — Added the sticky “On this page” navigation, static headline figures (so previews and search engines see real numbers), FAQ markup for the glossary, lazy-loaded charts, copy-link buttons on section titles, an accessibility pass (chart data tables, contrast fixes), the 2027-budget notify signup, and this changelog. No budget figures changed.
- June 5, 2026 — The “by fund” chart now moves with the five-year slider, with per-year change markers; added the floating year bar. By-fund-type figures for 2022–2025 reconstructed from the City’s individual fund schedules.
- June 2026 — First published: City and Schools budgets, five-year trends, reserves, the property-tax and cost-of-living explorers, and both simulators.
Sources & method
Where these numbers come from
- City of Bellingham — 2026 Adopted Budget (pp. 33, 37, 40, 17, 53–97)
- City of Bellingham — 2025 Adopted Budget (pp. 33–34 reserves, p.37 prior‑year fund comparison)
- City of Bellingham — 2026 Budget Overview (pie charts)
- City of Bellingham — Budget & finance reports
- City of Bellingham — City Council & Mayor’s Office (official profiles)
- Cascadia Daily News — 2025 council election results
- Cascadia Daily News — 2026 city budget coverage
- Cascadia Daily News — food/yard-waste fee
- Cascadia Daily News — deficit coverage: deficit flagged (2024), 2025 “temporary bridge” & regional cutbacks (2025)
- Salish Current — 2021 police-budget debate
- KGMI / My Bellingham Now — 2026 budget: layoffs & sales tax
- WA Dept of Revenue — Property Tax Statistics 2022–2025 (single-family parcels and assessed values by county)
- Whatcom County Assessor — 2025 Change of Value notices (~3.5% countywide revaluation, for 2026 taxes)
- Washington State Auditor — City of Bellingham accountability audits (clean; lone HUD/FFATA reporting finding)
- Bellingham Public Schools — Budget & cost-saving measures
- Cascadia Daily News — school positions cut & no closures before 2027
Independent civic explainer, last updated June 10, 2026. Not affiliated with the City of Bellingham or Bellingham Public Schools. Figures are hand-transcribed from public budget documents; values marked “est” are derived or approximated. The City and the School District are separate governments with separate budgets.