November 2025 Ballot Measures: Cities and Towns

At MRSC, we’ve been tracking the results of all local ballot measures across Washington State since 2011—except for schools, which are tracked by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).

By my count, there were 134 ballot measures facing voters last month across 33 of our 39 counties. That’s a lot! While I’ll never be able to do justice to them all, I hope to provide some highlights and things that caught my attention.

To make it easier to wade through so many ballot measures, I’ll be breaking my recap into two parts. Today I’ll focus on city and town ballot measures, and in the second installment I’ll tackle counties and special purpose districts.

Whenever possible, I’ve included links to local news articles for more information. Two of the biggest themes and tensions I’m seeing right now are local government revenue shortfalls on the one hand, versus taxpayer affordability on the other—both of which have been exacerbated by inflation in recent years.

So, let’s dig in!

Public Safety

Public safety funding has been a big topic in recent years, and this election was no exception. Quite a few cities had ballot measures focusing heavily on law enforcement, fire protection, or emergency services.

In Vancouver, voters approved a levy lid lift for police and public safety. The measure is expected to generate $6 million per year for the next six years, which will be used primarily for hiring more police officers. Some of the money will also be used for the city attorney’s office to prosecute more misdemeanors.

Mount Vernon voters narrowly approved a levy lid lift for community services, including fire and police staffing, fire equipment, and park maintenance and improvements. The city faces a $6 million shortfall in 2026, and the new measure will help offset that by generating almost $4 million per year.

By a slim margin, voters approved the formation of a new Camas-Washougal Regional Fire Authority to serve the two cities. An identical proposal had narrowly failed in the April special election.

Burien voters narrowly rejected a levy lid lift to increase police staffing; preserve and expend the police co-response model for issues related to homelessness, mental health, and drugs; and improve the safety of streets and sidewalks.

In Lake Forest Park, voters barely rejected a levy lid lift for police services, jails, mental health crisis response, emergency management, and other public safety purposes. The measure failed by less than 20 votes out of almost 5,700 cast.

Edmonds voters, by a much wider margin, said no to a levy lid lift for police, parks, planning, streets, and sidewalks.

In Mercer Island, a proposed $103 bond measure to build a new public safety and maintenance facility fell short of the required 60% supermajority.

In Yakima, a proposed levy lid lift for public safety and other city services narrowly failed. The city is now looking to make about $6 million in budget reductions as a result, including significant cuts to the police and fire departments. According to media reports, Yakima voters have not approved a property tax increase in over 40 years.

In Clarkston, voters rejected a one-year excess operations and maintenance (O&M) levy for ambulance services, the first time the city’s ambulance funding has ever been defeated at the ballot box. City council then removed ambulance services from the 2026 budget entirely, leading to public outcry from residents and prompting city council to try and restore the funding as it considers how to provide ambulance services over the long-term.

Several small cities and towns also sought approval for new public safety revenues. In Goldendale (population 3,500), voters narrowly approved a new 0.1% public safety sales tax. In Cathlamet (population 580), voters overwhelmingly rejected a levy lid lift for public safety and other essential services. And in Mansfield (population 335), voters approved—by a single vote—a levy lid lift to retain basic public safety, parks, and other community and governmental services.

Transportation

In Ellensburg, city voters swapped out a temporary 0.2% transportation benefit district (TBD) sales tax for a permanent 0.2% transit sales tax. Voters in Centralia, Clarkston, and Othello also supported renewals of their existing TBD sales taxes.

Bothell voters approved a nine-year levy lid lift for street and sidewalk improvements, renewing a levy that will expire at the end of this year.

Parks and Recreation

Spokane voters approved a $240 million levy lid lift for parks and recreation, as well as a $200 million school bond. While school bonds are near and dear to me, I don’t normally write about them since school funding measures are tracked by OSPI instead.  But in this case, the city and the school district worked together over several years to coordinate their ballot measures as part of a successful “Together Spokane” plan.

In Othello, a proposed bond measure to repair the local swimming pool fell short of the required 60% supermajority. The pool has been closed since spring 2024, after serious damage was discovered.

Cultural Access Programs

Gig Harbor voters said no to a proposed 7-year, 0.1% cultural access programs (CAP) sales tax to benefit the city’s arts, science, and historical organizations. Local organizations say they have been significantly impacted by recent federal budget cuts as well as 2017 changes to federal tax deductions that reduced charitable giving.

As of this year, voter approval is not necessarily required for a CAP sales tax, and cities and towns also have the option to impose this sales tax councilmanically under RCW 82.14.525. However, very few jurisdictions have established cultural access program funding so far.

Charter Amendments

Richland voters opposed a proposed charter amendment that would have changed the city council from seven at-large positions to five district-based positions and two at-large.

A similar charter amendment in Vancouver also failed, which would have switched from seven at-large council positions to four district-based positions and three at-large.

Citizen Initiatives

In Bellingham, voters approved a citizen initiative to prohibit landlords from interfering with tenants’ abilities to organize—including voter registration activities, tenant organizing, or reporting legal violations.

In nearby Ferndale, voters weighed in on the first citizen initiative in the city’s history, approving a measure to place significant limitations on so-called “junk fees” for rental housing. The city council had adopted a resolution opposing the initiative under RCW 42.17A.555(1), saying that it might exacerbate the housing crisis.

And in a rare defeat for citizen initiatives, Olympia voters rejected a proposal to increase the local minimum wage to $20 per hour and establish work scheduling requirements. The statewide minimum wage will increase to $17.13 per hour next year, but several jurisdictions along the I-5 corridor have established local wage rates over $20 per hour.

Advisory Votes

Voters also weighed in on a larger-than-usual number of advisory votes.

In Poulsbo and Milton, voters supported a ban on the sale, possession, and discharge of consumer fireworks within city limits, while Medical Lake voters opposed a similar fireworks ban.

In Liberty Lake, voters opposed the funding and construction of a new library and community center, while Kalama voters expressed strong opposition to paying additional property taxes to repair the Kalama Community Building.

Other Measures

Seattle voters easily approved restructuring the city’s business and occupation (B&O) tax. The B&O tax rates will increase, but the threshold for paying the tax will increase from $100,000 to $2 million, meaning many more businesses will not owe B&O taxes. The restructure will generate an additional $81 million per year; voter approval was required under RCW 35.21.711.

Seattle voters also easily approved a $1.3 billion levy lid lift for childcare and education support services, doubling the size of a previous levy.

In Blaine, voters approved a large de-annexation (removal from city limits) of 573 acres of rural and largely undeveloped land. The city had struggled to extend utilities to the area for decades, and the entitlements to a proposed housing development in the area expired earlier this year.

Next Time: Counties and Special Purpose Districts

In part two of my election analysis, I’ll take a look at the ballot measures submitted by counties and “special purpose districts”—including fire protection districts, public hospital districts, park districts, library districts, and more. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, I’ve posted the full election results to our Local Ballot Measure Database.