City council continues its review of biennial budgets 

City Manager Jeff Niten presented the budget for the city manger department and the city council. 

The Mountlake Terrace City Council at its Oct. 10 meeting heard the second of nine city staff presentations for the 2025-2026 biennial budget.

The presentations included department goals for the next two years and achievements from the previous biennium. They included:

City council

City Manager Jeff Niten presented the budget information to the city council on their behalf. The council is elected by its citizens to set the city’s policies, legislative agenda and general governance. The council adopts goals and strategies that the city manager and staff implement.

Three changes will affect the city council budget:

– The city’s salary commission appointed earlier this year is expected to issue council salaries on Oct. 21. By law, the commission’s findings must be implemented and can’t be changed.

– Legal and legislative support costs and the Mountlake Terrace Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission were moved from the council budget to the city manager’s office. That change is reflected in the 2023-2024 budget.

– Travel and training costs were updated.

To view the city council budget presentation materials, click here.

City manager’s office

The city manager is an organizational leader who serves as the city’s chief executive officer and provides policy advice to the city council. The manager directs the city government’s daily operations, handles personnel functions, prepares the city budget and supports the city council and all departments administratively.

Budget changes include:

– Addition of a new economic development manager to align with goals in the council’s Strategic Plan and the Economic Development Strategic Plan.

– Two administrative assistants moved to the departments they serve – the community and economic development department and public works.

– Adjusted staff salaries

– Enhanced staff training program

– Implementation of an economic development strategic plan, such as economic development branding

– Consulting support for the Long-Range Financial Sustainability Task Force

– Implementation of a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategic plan

One change noted in the city manager’s budget is switching information technology (IT) to an internal service since it services all departments. Niten said this change is  a more transparent way to show the cost of IT functions and which departments are more IT-dependent.

The proposed increase in human resources spending is for training new staff, and the change in the city clerk budget reflects the city’s records digitization project.

Upfront costs for IT will increase because of software upgrades but the city will see a return on that investment, Niten said.

View the city manager’s office budget presentation materials here.

Finance Technician Caitland Reinke and Finance Director Sirke Salminen review their department’s budget with the city council.

Finance department

The finance department provides financial services for managers and directors, and gathers information so that stakeholders can monitor the city’s economic well-being.

Finance Director Sirke Salminen and Finance Technician Caitland Reinke presented for their department, which – like other departments – requested a budget increase for technology. The increase is related to  updating the department’s software.

Salminen said that finance has the smallest budget of all the departments and primarily consists of salaries.

Councilmember Laura Sonmore asked about the status of  public defender attorney fees in Washington state. The Washington State Supreme Court is considering a request to reduce the number of cases public defense attorneys handle each year by up to two-thirds. The Washington State Bar Association and its Council on Public Defense is asking for the change to address persistent challenges imperiling the ability to provide timely and effective representation for indigent defendants statewide.

“Different organizations are pressing for different things,” Niten said. “The Association of Counties is not contesting the new max caseload standards; they’re just asking for more resources.”

However, Niten explained that another organization is asking the Washington State Supreme Court to treat felony caseloads like misdemeanors. This would create an imbalance at the municipal level, as misdemeanor cases are the most common at the city level.

Niten said that one night in jail costs the city $200 per person.

View the finance department budget here.

Community and economic development department

The community and economic development department implements the city council’s goals, policies and long-range vision for Mountlake Terrace.

Building Official Matthew Gisle, who was presenting for the department, said that the city’s changes in policies and procedures are reflected in its automated software system for building permits

“The squeaky wheel does not get the grease in Mountlake Terrace; we treat everyone the same,” Gisle said. “First in, first out.”

The system is “99.9%” digital, but the department still accepts paper permit submissions. Moving to a digital process has lowered the department’s supply expenditures.

Gisle said salary increases and new employee training are the bulk of the cost increase in the department budget.

View the community and economic development department budget here.

Cmdr. Scott King, Cmdr. Mike Haynes and Chief Pete Caw presented the police department’s proposed biennial budget. (Image courtesy of the City of Mountlake Terrace.)

Police department

– Converting two part-time cadet positions into one full-time police services specialist.

– Reassigning animal control duties to special services.

– Adding body-worn camera video redaction to the Evidence Technician position.

– Added a fourth detective.

– Recruiting, hiring and training officers to backfill vacancies.

Chief Pete Caw said the department is recruiting an officer from the Seattle Police Department and conducting a background check. Once that person is hired, the department will be fully staffed.

When asked about the department’s decrease in wages and salaries from 2023 to 2024, Caw explained it was due to code enforcement officers being transferred to city positions.

View the police department budget here.

In other business, Senior Planner Johnathan Morales presented the fourth review of the city’s Vision 2044 Comprehensive Plan – the public review draft.

Among the items reviewed was the income band analysis, which showed that Mountlake Terrace has a housing deficit for income levels above 120% of area median income (AMI). However, due to the city’s size, Morales said that per the state statute, the city does not need to meet that requirement if it meets middle-housing requirements.

A map of projected jobs in areas by number. (Image courtesy of the City of Mountlake Terrace.)

City Manager Niten explained that there isn’t enough land capacity to build the homes in the 120%AMI, which includes “single-family homes with traditional yards.”

Morales also presented a map of mixed-use zoning areas in the city marked with six “nodes” that will be developed.

Node 1: Melody Hill

Node 2: Town Center

Node 3: Cascade View

Node 4: Cedar Terrace

Node 5: Gateway

Node 6: Lake Ballinger

Smaller nodes are not numbered but are noted with green circles.

Mayor Pro Tem Bryan Wahl expressed surprise that Node 2 had more anticipated job growth than Node 1 because the area seemed better developed and asked if redevelopment of Node 2 was planned.

Morales said that the city planning commission made the development suggestion. He said there was an increase in mixed-use zoning at the intersection of 220th and Interstate 5 – located in Node 2 – and that Saint Pius X Parish, which owns land there, expressed interest in setting up housing to help accommodate mixed-use zoning.

View the Vision 2024 Comprehensive Plan presentation materials here.

The next city council meeting will be a special meeting held on Wednesday, Oct. 16.

The scheduled meeting for Thursday, Oct. 17, has been canceled.

The meeting will start at 7 p.m., Oct. 16, at Mountlake Terrace City Hall, 23204 58th Ave. W., Mountlake Terrace.

To attend the meeting online, visit zoom.us/join and enter meeting ID 810 1113 9518; no passcode is needed.

To make a public comment remotely, complete the registration form within 24 hours of the meeting’s start at cityofmlt.com/FormCenter/City-Council-17/Remote-Public-Comment-Request-Form-12.

To listen via telephone, call 1-253-215-8782 and enter the same meeting ID.

You also can view live-streamed meetings and past video recordings at www.youtube.com/cityofmlt.

The agenda can be viewed here.

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