BI Council reviews community survey results on budget priorities

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, July 29, 2026

The Bainbridge Island City Council reviewed new community survey results regarding budget priorities at its July 21 study session. The survey, which garnered responses from 238 participants, was developed by city staff using a voluntary open polling survey conducted between June 19 and July 5. The survey was guided by city council priorities, the city’s equity toolkit, and a focus on core city services and council-adopted priorities, among others, per city documents.

The three questions included: priorities in the current budget over the next two years, where constituents want the city to make additional investments if able to do so, and when resources may be limited where constituents would want to reduce services.

Regarding priorities, respondents reported road maintenance/ infrastructure (126), water/sewer systems (78), and groundwater management (78) as top priorities. Regarding additional investments, respondents reported road maintenance/ infrastructure (64), sustainable transportation (50), and water/sewer systems (45) as top priorities. For the possibility of reduced services and where constituents would reduce them, respondents reported welcoming and equitable community (109), accessibility (79), and community funding (68).

The open community survey was designed to maximize participation within available resources, with a primary audience of BI residents; some perspectives may be underrepresented, such as people who work on BI but don’t live on the island. The survey may also identify where additional outreach or targeted surveying could be beneficial, per city documents.

Interim city manager Ellen Schroer said city staff is working on the 2027-28 operating and capital budget development, and a proposed budget will be brought back to council at the end of September. Schroer said new city manager John Mauro will also work on the budget with council throughout the fall, with roughly two months of deliberations including required public hearings, and passing the budget typically around Thanksgiving.

Schroer said the city is in a status quo budget, meaning they are seeing modest revenue increases that are slower than the pace of inflation, adding, “this means that for our upcoming budget cycle, we’ll need to make careful choices. This means that while we believe that we’re financially stable, we are not in a position where we’re going to be looking for budget reductions like we did in the last biennium. We aren’t going to be able to support significant new spending, and so that really focuses our conversations and choices, and makes it even more important for us to reach out to our community,” she said.

Three lessons learned from the survey include: start earlier, survey longer, finish earlier, consider a consultant to conduct a scientific survey, and compare results from a scientific and nonscientific survey that would include the same questions, per city documents.

Council will review a list of council priorities and areas of emphasis for the 2027-28 budget in the coming weeks, and indicate seven top priorities to city staff by Aug. 3, with an anticipated next discussion Aug. 11, per city documents.