City Council Recap: A $1.5 Billion Question, and MFTE's Last Step

Nava Carlyle |  July 21, 2026

Bellevue City Council spent its July 21 meeting on the two policy tracks the Chamber's coalitions have worked hardest this year: closing a $1.5 billion transportation funding gap and finishing the MFTE Catalyst housing incentive. By night's end, the Council had directed staff to bring the Catalyst ordinance back for final action on a future consent calendar, with a Transportation Benefit District decision coming in September's budget.

A $1.5 billion need meets a $686 million budget

Transportation Director Andrew Singelakis and Deputy Director Mark Poch walked the Council through the numbers heading into the fall budget. Bellevue's 20-year transportation need stands near $1.5 billion before counting the Grand Connection Crossing, while existing revenues support roughly $686 million of capital over the same period. The Transportation Benefit District the Council established, but never funded, in 2023 could raise just over a quarter billion dollars across 20 years - through a 0.1 percent sales tax and a vehicle license fee. Staff modeled 90 percent of proceeds to transportation capital and 10 percent to the Grand Connection Crossing, with Bellevue residents paying only about 30 percent of the sales tax. September's proposed budget will carry both scenarios, no new revenues and TBD, along with the choice between councilmanic adoption and a public vote.

Public voices split on new revenue

Oral communications hit the ten-speaker limit, and the TBD drew arguments in both directions. Former Transportation Commissioner Victor Bishop argued the council should be bold, and bring voters a plan sized to the backlog. Mariya Frost of Kemper Development Company argued the opposite by pointing to two county sales tax increases already absorbed this year and warned a TBD would push Bellevue's combined sales tax to 10.5 percent.

"Keep this budget fiscally disciplined and don't add to what residents and businesses are already paying." — Mariya Frost, Kemper Development Company

The Chamber's ask: keep the tbd targeted, not spread thin

Nava Carlyle delivered testimony for the Bellevue Mobility Coalition, which the Chamber convenes, supporting a TBD that is "targeted, not spread thin": concentrate funds where growth is greatest, keep supporting vehicular throughput alongside multimodal investment, and model TBD revenues over the Comprehensive Plan's full 20-year horizon rather than the six-year capital window.

Multi-family housing tax exemption Catalyst to the consent calendar

Staff returned with draft code implementing the Council's May direction on the multifamily tax exemption: a four-year supercharger for HOMA areas outside downtown, a fix letting projects that pay a fee-in-lieu still participate in MFTE, clarified application timing, a two-year look-back, and a sunset at the end of 2031. Diana Leo testified in support on behalf of the Eastside Housing Roundtable, the housing coalition that includes the Chamber and the Housing Development Consortium, saying the program "strikes the right balance" between spurring near-term development and holding it accountable for results.

"Today's financing conditions have made it difficult to get new housing off the ground." — Diana Leo, vp of government affairs at the bellevue chamber

Brady Nordstrom added that residential development still faces economic headwinds. Councilmembers agreed with the direction.

"We have a recommended ordinance that will ensure that we keep our foot on the gas for housing production and it supports our community's desire to increase our supply of affordable housing." — Deputy Mayor david Hamilton

The Council then voted without opposition to direct staff to finalize the ordinance for final action on a consent calendar at a future meeting. The Catalyst will land there quietly; the transportation question will not, with the TBD debate set to run through the fall budget.