Throughout his tenure, Bellingham Mayor Seth Fleetwood has made fighting climate change a major priority for the city, developing action plans, pushing climate measures through city council votes and proposing significant funding sources to support climate efforts.
Fleetwood’s concerns, related to ongoing carbon emissions and warming climates, impact every decision he makes as a community leader, he said. This year alone, the mayor has pushed for significant funding sources, including the currently paused Climate Action Fund (CAF) and a recently proposed climate action office.
“All of us in Bellingham are committed,” he said during an interview Friday. “All governments have to work through the hard work of transformation, from the international, national, sub-national, local, county and city level. Everyone has to be all-in.”
Though work on the CAF, a 10-year, $60 million levy, was paused earlier this year, the measure may soon be back on the table.
The measure, initially put forward by Fleetwood, proposed a property tax of 37 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, or $185 annually on a $500,000 home. The measure was put on a “strategic pause” in June while the mayor sought additional support and community input.
“There will be consideration” to reintroduce the tax, Fleetwood said. “One lesson learned from that effort earlier this year was the need to bring in more voices.”
Fleetwood remains adamant that a “sustainable, dedicated” climate action fund is necessary for the city as the community works to combat climate change, but wants to hear more feedback from citizens.
“We’re not giving up,” he told the Cascadia Daily News in June. “We remain fully committed to the critical job of making urgent progress on climate action. But it is a ‘strategic pause’ to build support and [is] in response to community feedback concerning the timing of this measure.”
In addition to the Climate Action Fund, Fleetwood hopes to develop a distinct climate action office for the city, housed within the office of the mayor.
Funds for the office, which would include a climate energy manager and climate policy manager, were included in the mayor’s proposed 2023–24 city budget.
“The object is to give attention to climate work: more prominence and more attention on par with what we need,” he told the Cascadia Daily News in June. “I see the office of climate action continuing — with greater emphasis and greater resources — the work of implementing our climate action plan.”
Fleetwood said the office will focus heavily on updating the city’s climate action plan, which will be up for review next year. The initial plan, he said, was “aspirational, rather than a more coherent plan of attack.”
The plan calls for the city to meet new carbon emission targets and significantly curb greenhouse gas emissions. Updating it “will consume a lot of time,” Fleetwood said, but is vital for a “just transition” into a more environmentally conscious and equitable community.
