How does the City spend your money? In order to make sure that the money coming into the City meets the services you need and expect the City provides, the budget process connects the allocation of funds to the City’s programs and objectives.
Building the 2027-2028 Budget
We are currently in the process of building the 2027-2028 Budget. This past spring and summer, department directors submitted their requests and met with the Mayor. In addition, you provided your feedback through the 2026 Budget Survey. Starting in September, the Mayor is presenting her draft budget to the City Council for a series of meetings to review each portion of the proposed budget, answer questions and gain feedback. The Budget is on track to be passed by the Council in December.
How to get involved:
- Review the responses to the 2026 Budget Priorities Survey.
- Watch past Council meetings to get information on what’s in the budget and what is not in the budget.
- Review presentations as PDFs in past Council Agenda Packet
- Watch archived meeting videos online at Pierce County TV or on the City’s YouTube Channel
- Join/watch upcoming meetings for more information on further parts of the budget.
- Check upcoming Agendas for topics that will be covered and link to join the meeting
- Watch meetings live on the City’s YouTube Channel (hint: if you subscribe to the Channel, you can set a notification to remind you the meeting has begun).
Draft 2027-2028 Budget
We are doing something different this year: we’re building the budget online in this section. We will keep adding pieces throughout the next few weeks. Instead of an intimidating 200-page PDF that few people will read, the budget will be a series of links to get you to the information you seek in the fastest and easiest way possible.
Introduction
Site under construction – more sections coming soon!
2025-2026 Budget in Brief
2025-2026 Full Budget
Budget Process
The framework of the city budget was developed with the following basic purposes in mind. The budget
1. Establishes a Plan of Policy and Operation, which allocates resources of the City to achieve specific City goals and objectives and guides the City’s activities.
2. Facilitates the Evaluation of City Programs by providing a means to measurably examine the financial activities of the City departments over time.
3. Provides Management Information as a comprehensive recording of information relative to both the character and scope of City activity.
4. Establishes Financial Control through prioritization of programs/projects. The allocation of revenue to various activities allows policy officials to ensure legality, accuracy, and conformity to legislative and administrative objectives.
We try to balance the budget’s format in order to make it readable and understandable to you while providing sufficient detail to make it an active guide for the City’s departments, administration and Council as they carry out, evaluate and monitor programs. Each fund or department budget has a clear, concise description of each of the programs and goals/objectives that it’s to accomplish in that budget year.
Contact Us
Finance Department
1104 Maple Street, Sumner WA 98390
253-863-8300 FAX 253-299-5509
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