# City Council Special Meeting | November 5, 2026

The City of Redmond City Council held a special meeting on November 5, 2026, for deliberations on the preliminary 2027–28 biennial budget, with budget adoption scheduled for November 10. Council used informal thumbs-up consensus checks; no contract awards or bid approvals were made. Key funding directions included $200,000 in one-time development-agreement funds for the Wayfinder Hub; $3.5 million from general-fund surplus for affordable housing; and a $50,000 pilot to help subsidize permit and application fees for an affordable retail tenant. The proposed $250,000 pavement-management enhancement was retained, while the $50,000 severe-weather shelter allocation remained unchanged. Council did not advance the proposed $2.7 million East Redmond Corridor capital project into the upcoming biennium, but supported continued monitoring of the implementation plan. The existing RedLINK pilot funding was retained pending further evaluation.

Council also supported adding $150,000 in the 2029–30 budget for a light-pollution study and setting aside $250,000 for an ethics-framework review, with the scope to be refined in the first quarter of 2027 and coordinated with other reviews and RFPs. A principal planner position for rental services and housing policy was supported with $442,000 for the biennium and budget proviso requirements. An additional tourism-promotion-area FTE was supported on the understanding that it would be reimbursed by Bellevue. The proposed 4.1% cost-of-living adjustment and other staff pay-plan changes were also supported. Further ELAP legal-services funding was deferred for discussion in Q1 2027. No procurement awards were identified; several funding, study, pilot, and potential RFP actions remain to be developed or brought back to Council.

**Jurisdictions:** sled
**Industries:** Construction & Infrastructure, Professional Services
**Topics:** Physical Infrastructure
**Published:** November 05, 2026

### Sources
- [City Council Special Meeting | November 5, 2026](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7FTwNBSY6E) - City of Redmond