City of Tukwila E-Hazelnut Newsletter
December  2018
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City of Tukwila Website
City Employment Opportunities
Tukwila Elected Officials
Mayor: Allan Ekberg

Verna Seal (Council President)
Dennis Robertson 
Kathy Hougardy
De'Sean Quinn
Kate Kruller
Thomas McLeod 
Zak Idan

Collaborative effort results in a balanced 2019/2020 biennial budget 

On December 10, 2018 the Council adopted the City's 2019/2020 biennial budget. This was the culmination of a significant amount of work by the Council, Administration and staff, who can take pride in producing a balanced budget that reflects this community's values.
 
This budget will allow the City to maintain and provide a high level of services to the community by fully funding existing positions and most programs. Fully funding all positions means there are Police officers in Tukwila's neighborhoods, Fire personnel responding to calls, and Public Works staff addressing the infrastructure needs of the community. It's a Parks Department that maintains City parks and provides ongoing programming for the community's youth and adults. The funding results in the timely processing of permits and utility bills, and enables continuing innovations, such as the recent deployment of free Wi-Fi in the Cascade View neighborhood.
 
This budget was not without challenges. Like many surrounding cities, those drafting Tukwila's budget faced tough choices due to a wide variety of consequential factors. Changing revenue streams, reduced revenues from the State and Federal governments, statutory limitations on the rate of revenue growth, and rising costs of delivering services - these all affect the City's bottom line. Addressing this reality, departments were instructed to underspend their budgets by 3% in 2018. The 2019/2020 budget reflects a 3% reduction of expenditures for supplies and services in every department except Fire and Police, which have 1.5% reductions. In addition, new revenues were generated, including a stepped increase in the business license fee over two years, and a 1% increase in the City's gambling tax.
 
The 2019/2020 budget process was one of the most collaborative budget processes Tukwila has conducted. The Council expended significant effort reviewing the budget of every department and fund, holding multiple work sessions and reviewing the budgets again in either a Committee of the Whole or Regular Council meeting.
 
The Council also identified and adopted additional priorities that they wished to include, using existing money to fund them:
  • Funding for two crosswalks on Tukwila International Boulevard that include the pedestrian flashing beacons for safety;
  • Additional swings at Cascade View Park; and
  • Additional funding to study more options for traffic flow on Tukwila International Boulevard.
The complete City of Tukwila budget document is viewable at TukwilaWA.gov/budget. If you have any questions about the budget process, please contact Deputy Finance Director Vicky Carlsen at 206-433-1839, or Vicky.Carlsen@TukwilaWA.gov.

City publication change for 2019 

Beginning in 2019, the City will no longer be publishing the City Pages in the Tukwila Reporter. Instead, we will use those funds to produce six Hazelnut newsletters a year, which are mailed to every address in Tukwila. For the past four years we have only been able to do two Hazelnuts a year. Reprogramming this funding will allow us to triple that number.
 
The Reporter has been a great partner in disseminating information, and we thank Sound Publishing for being a part of our community. However, more frequent editions of the Hazelnut will allow the City more flexibility to go into greater detail on key issues of interest to residents and businesses. It also allows us to publish important information in languages other than English. Finally, we are going to use the first edition of the year, which will come in February, to share the City's Annual Report with the community.
 
The City strives to use multiple channels to communicate the various activities, events and projects underway in Tukwila. We encourage you to get to know more about these opportunities on the City's website at TukwilaWA.gov. If you scroll down on the home page, you'll see links to our Facebook and Twitter feeds, the button to sign up for the monthly E-Hazelnut newsletter, and how to stream programs from Tukwila Channel 21.

Tukwila recognizes commute trip reduction champions


This Fall, the South King County CTR Champions Awards Ceremony gathered entities "moving and shaking" the way employees and customers arrive at their sites.

Jenna Smith at King County Housing Authority received a CTR Champion award for being an active transportation champion. With the help of a small grant program, she installed bicycle lockers at their site!

Odin Brewery was recognized as a Bicycle Champion for the company's leadership in bike facility improvements.

If your workplace would like assistance exploring transportation options such as small grants for bicycle facilities or providing ORCA cards, please contact  SKCTransportationOptions@tukwilawa.gov