In summer of 2022, we surveyed Washington’s cities and towns to learn about current city conditions. Read a snapshot of what we learned.

Note: Percentages of cities throughout the following synopsis represent the percent of cities that responded to our survey, and not all 281 cities and towns.

Who took the survey?

What we found

When asked to indicate which issues their community identified as a “major concern,” most city respondents identified:

• Conditions of infrastructure systems;
• Increased costs of city services;
• Affordability of housing;
• Availability of workforce; and
• Availability of behavioral health resources.

Like last year, infrastructure, affordable housing, and behavioral health were also identified as top community concerns this year. (Note: 2022 was the first year we asked about workforce availability and costs of city services).

Source: 2022 City Conditions Survey, 87 responses

Unsurprisingly, cities identified similar issues as their policy priorities in 2022. Asked to select their top five policy priorities from a pre-determined list, a majority of cities selected infrastructure, public safety, city finances, economic development, and affordable housing (see below chart).

Source: 2022 City Conditions Survey, 86 responses

The chart below is a breakdown of how the top five issues changed over the last three years. (Note: City finances was not on the list prior to this year.) Notably, affordable housing has increased as a top policy focus each year, while economic development has decreased each year.

Sources: 2022 City Conditions Survey, 86 responses;
2021 AWC City Conditions Survey, 124 responses;
2020 AWC City Conditions Survey, 118 responses

Finally, cities largely concur on how the state could best support their work, with infrastructure consistently leading the list of needs for 91% of cities. More than 50% of cities say they would be helped by:

• An increase in state funding to local governments for infrastructure and capital projects (91%);
• An increase to, or preserving of, current state-shared revenues (79%);
• A revision to the 1% property tax limit (66%);
• Granting cities new revenue authority for operating purposes (61%);
• The creation or enhancement of existing state programs to assist local governments in economic development (60%).

Finance

Although 80% of cities do not expect a revenue decline in 2023:

• 34% report that revenues are not expected to keep pace with expenses; and
• 82% report that increased costs of city services are a concern in their community.

59% of cities responding to the survey reported that revenue-expenditure imbalances were driven by a combination of factors, including:

• The short-term economic downturn;
• Inflation increasing costs; and
• Long-term ongoing structural challenges.

An additional 22% of cities cited inflation as the driver, and 15% cited structural challenges.

Source: 2022 City Conditions Survey, 63 responses

There is broad agreement among cities about the most effective potential state responses, which likely reflect concerns about structural challenges in city finance.

• 79% of cities support maintaining or increasing current state shared revenues;
• 66% of cities support revising the 1% property tax limit to keep up with inflation (historically well over 1% per year); and
• 61% of cities support granting cities new revenue authority for operating purposes.

Housing

Housing issues continued to be a focus for cities in 2022:

• 78% of survey respondents said affordability of housing was a major concern in their communities; and
• 45% of respondents identified lack of shelter for those who are unhoused as a major concern.

Cities are responding dynamically to these concerns. In addition to the extensive work cities have already done in the last three years on this issue, in 2022 a further:

• 45% created housing action plans;
• 39% of city respondents reduced barriers to infill development;
• 31% partnered with nonprofit or public agencies to provide land and other resources for housing projects;
• 28% authorized new housing types in single-family zones;
• 27% implemented newly created housing action plans;
• 24% streamlined or expedited development review for residential construction;
• 15% upzoned multifamily zoning;
• 15% lowered or waived fees related to housing construction.

Cities across the state have acted. The map below shows the geographic distribution of three select approaches:

Source: 2022 City Conditions Survey, 67 responses

Cities need strong state support to continue and expand these initiatives. When asked to identify state actions or policies that would help meet city needs:

• 44% of respondents said to increase state funding for housing programs;
• 32% of respondents said to increase state funding for planning; and
• 38% of respondents said to increase state funding for homelessness response.
• 62% of respondents said they would be interested in pursuing additional flexibility within existing Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) funds; and
• 40% of respondents expressed interest in a new local option to levy a REET for affordable housing purposes.

“Our city has worked hard to partner with the builders and developers within our community, including working with them to streamline the development review process and implement code changes that provide greater flexibility to the development community.”
Dan Legard, Finance Director/Deputy City Manager, City of Kennewick

Infrastructure

Infrastructure updates and expansions are of critical importance to cities. When asked to indicate their top five policy priorities for 2023:

• 80% of cities selected infrastructure;
• 21% of cities selected broadband; and
• 83% of cities said that their community has identified the conditions of their infrastructure systems (water, sewer, stormwater) as a major concern.

The costs to preserve and maintain infrastructure systems remain a formidable challenge for cities (see tables below). More than 60% indicated that their city pays for infrastructure projects using Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) revenue, federal funding, and general fund revenue. However, 60% of cities have diverted existing or dedicated revenue to fund federal match requirements, and a further 72% of cities said state and federal funding sources are insufficient to meet infrastructure funding needs.

Source: 2022 City Conditions Survey, 74 responses

Source: 2022 City Conditions Survey, 70 responses

Cities are also managing increasing retirements, resignations, and staffing vacancies. When asked where they were struggling to fill vacancies, 69% of cities selected public works, making it the most-selected department in this category.

For more detail, please refer to AWC’s infrastructure-focused 2022 State of the Cities coming soon.

Transportation

Developing and maintaining effective city transportation systems is an important part of serving residents, proactively addressing climate change, and preparing for continued population growth.

Nearly half of cities identified transportation as a top-five policy priority for 2023, and 57% of cities reported their communities have identified transportation system conditions as a “major concern.”

Top transportation needs include:

• Maintenance and preservation of current assets (89% of respondents);
• Pedestrian access and safety (72%);
• New or increased capacity (e.g. roads or lanes) (44%);
• State highway improvements (39%); and
• Multimodal investments such as public transit (28%).

Cities use a number of different funding sources, including local taxing authority like TBDs, to support critical transportation projects (see below).

Source: 2022 City Conditions Survey, 72 responses

Public safety

Public safety remains a priority for cities across the state, as 65% of cities plan to increase public safety funding over the previous year and 28% of cities plan to increase this funding by more than 10%.

In addition to providing policing, cities around the state also offer a wide range of alternative response programs:

Source: 2022 City Conditions Survey, 64 responses

65% of cities stated that their communities experienced an increase in crime in 2022 relative to the previous year, especially property crime, vehicle theft (including catalytic converters), and drug possession.

Source: 2022 City Conditions Survey, 58 responses

Hiring and maintaining police offers remains a concern for cities. Nearly 75% of cities foresee hiring new officers to be one of their major challenges, and 41% of cities anticipate that retirements or resignations will impact their public safety staffing.
Washington state is facing historic vacancies in law enforcement. According to data from the Department of Retirement Systems, around 22% of officers are already eligible for retirement, and another 17% of officers will be eligible in the next few years.

Legislative mandates and increasing liability insurance are also weighing on city leaders’ minds.

• 60% of cities listed legislative mandates as one of their biggest challenges in 2023; and
• 36% of cities named increasing liability in the same category.

In response to the expected hiring difficulties in 2023:

• 40% of cities will provide hiring incentives for lateral hires; and
• 25% of cities will provide incentives for new hires (most incentives offered are less than $10,000).

Human resources

Inflation and staffing were major human resources concerns for survey respondents.

82% of cities reported that this year’s high inflation has impacted workforce costs:

• Over 3/4 of cities reported that inflation was impacting their city’s wage; and
• Nearly half of cities were losing employees who left their positions seeking a higher salary.

Additionally, about 33% of cities are feeling inflation’s effects on employer contributions to pensions, workers’ comp insurance, and benefits.

Almost 75% of city respondents said that they were struggling to fill vacancies. The top four departments with vacancies are:

• Public works;
• Police;
• General government & administration; and
• Community development/planning.

Those same four departments also experienced the most impact from resignations and retirements. 47% of cities said they were experiencing larger-than-normal levels of turnover due to resignations or retirements.

It should be noted that City Conditions Surveys in prior years have shown that cities have been struggling to fill public safety and public works positions, even before the pandemic. Although there has been a sea-change in much of the public safety sector over the last several years—especially in policing—other data has shown that a disproportionately large number of public safety workers were already at or near retirement age before the pandemic and recent efforts at police reform.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion in cities

Cities continue to act on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts:

• 53% of cities said their council has made or is considering making a commitment to DEI; and
• Nearly 50% of cities have or are considering a committee dedicated to DEI.