The city's 2027–2028 budget
Next with the City Council · Tuesday 10 November
On the agenda as “Final Public Hearing on the Preliminary 2027-2028 Operating Budget and the 2027-2032 Capital Improvement Program Plan Budget”
Why it matters
The operating budget sets what the city spends on its services in 2027 and 2028. The capital plan sets which streets, parks and buildings it pays to build through 2032. The city also proposes higher development permit fees for 2027: on its own example, a minor commercial project valued at $250,000 would pay $9,246 instead of $8,705, up 6.2%. Hourly review rates for land use, fire, transportation and utilities rise 9.3 to 9.5%; building review, charged on construction value, gets a 3.8% fee adjustment. source
Where it stands
- 23 June 2026Financial forecast and first public hearing sourceDone
- 15 September 2026Preliminary budget presented, second public hearing sourceDone
- 22 September to 20 October 2026Four Council deliberations sourceDone
- 27 October 2026Third and last public hearing, and deliberation sourceDone
- 3 November 2026Council questions and deliberation sourceDone
- TodaySunday 8 November
- 10 November 2026Deliberation on the budget calendar; the 27 October roundup names only 3 November sourceNext
- 17 November 2026Council adopts the budget sourceLater · expected
What we’ve said and written
Brian’s comment · sent Thursday 15 October
“Please make sure the curb work in the 2027–2028 budget keeps travel lanes clear across downtown, not only on the blocks that get meters.”
What this site has published on it
- BellHop: downtown Bellevue's free shuttle BellHop, the free electric shuttle around downtown Bellevue, gave 185,602 rides from 2023 to May 2026, and half its ten busiest stops are grocery stores. The preliminary 2027–28 budget keeps the city's share at $150,000 a year, the same as 2025 and 2026; the Council adopts it on 17 November.
- What a Bellevue building permit costs Bellevue's permit fees come to $24,606 for the city's example new house and $8,705 for a small commercial project. The city proposes about 6% more on each for 2027, with hourly review rates up about 9.5% and some flat fees up by a third or more; the Council is scheduled to adopt the budget on 17 November.
Comments marked with his name were written by this site’s author, Brian H. Liou, as a Bellevue resident.
Next step and how to weigh in
Tuesday 10 November · City Council
Deliberation on the budget calendar; the 27 October roundup names only 3 November.
How to comment
Email [email protected]; the city takes email to the Council at any time. Its budget page asks for the subject line “Written Communications” and for comments by 3 p.m. on the meeting day, which here is Tuesday 10 November. To speak instead, sign up on the oral communications page from noon that day; each speaker gets three minutes. Whatever you send becomes a public record.
How this was checked
Meetings and agenda items come from Bellevue’s Legistar meeting calendar, read by plat’s agenda watcher, which keeps items on housing, land use, parking and streets and leaves out the rest. It last read the city’s calendar on Sunday 8 November. Agenda headings and the city’s glossary of agenda terms are left out. An item is matched to a published story only where the watcher’s fixed topic list says the story speaks to it.
Each decision’s stages come from the city’s project pages, staff memos and minutes, linked beside each one. A date the city expects but has not fixed is marked expected. Quotes are copied from the city’s PDFs and checked word for word against the page they cite on every build; minutes marked draft are not yet approved.
Who wrote in counts the letters on the item in the meeting packet. Organisations, firms and property owners are named with what they asked for. Residents who wrote are counted, with what they wrote about, and not named.
Decided items come from the actions the city records on each agenda item. A decision this page followed stays under Decided for good; an agenda item it only linked a story to stays 30 days.
Our comments are quoted from the text that was sent. Whether one was taken up is filled in from the meeting record after the decision.
Sources: Planning Commission page, read 25 October; City Council page, read 25 October; Council oral communications page, read 20 October; Budget public involvement page, read 24 October; Budget presentation, slide 22: example permit fees, read 28 October; Proposed 2027 development fee summary, read 28 October.