The Chehalis City Council approved the city’s 2025 budget on its final reading during the council’s Monday, Nov. 25, meeting after holding the required second public hearing concerning the budget and 2025 property tax and EMS levies.
With budget deficit issues looming in Chehalis as they are in many municipalities across Washington state, the council voted to approve raising the property tax and EMS levies by 1%, as allowed by state law, along with utilizing its full available banked property tax authority.
Both the Chehalis 2025 budget and the property tax and EMS levies were approved by votes of 6-1 with Chehalis City Councilor Kevin Carns opposing both.
Per state law, municipalities such as Chehalis are required to submit balanced annual budgets.
Though the Chehalis budget will be balanced next year, Carns opposed it due to the way in which it was balanced — by tapping into the city’s general fund reserves and other emergency funds.
During the budget’s and tax levies’ first readings, Carns said he understood the need to pursue more revenue in order to keep the budget balanced as inflation keeps increasing expenditure costs, but said he believed the city’s government should focus on making cuts internally.
“It’s not the answer anybody wants. It’s not the answer I want to propose. But we cannot continue this trajectory,” Carns said during the council’s Oct. 28 meeting.
As for the budget numbers, the amounts remained unchanged from the first reading.
Chehalis’ 2025 budget will have a starting balance of $27,334,785. Citywide, expenditures across all funds are expected to total $31,548,384 with revenues anticipated at $29,024,900 — leaving the ending balance for the city’s 2026 budget of $24,811,301.
The total amount collected by Chehalis’s 2025 property tax and EMS levies will be $2,531,336.01, with $246,754.96 of the city’s available banked property tax authority being utilized.
For more information on the 2025 budget for the City of Chehalis, read The Chronicle’s coverage of its first reading at https://tinyurl.com/bddmp7h2.
To read Chehalis’ 2025 budget or previous annual budgets approved by the Chehalis City Council, visit the city’s website at https://www.ci.chehalis.wa.us/finance/page/adopted-budgets.
