Yelm finance director highlights 2026 revenue estimates, projections for 2027-28

Stephanie Nanavich, the City of Yelm’s finance director, gave Yelm City Council a glimpse into the city’s financial future during a study session meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 1, as she highlighted Yelm’s 2026 revenue estimates and projections for fiscal years 2027 and 2028.
She noted that the makeup of revenues going into the general fund includes collections of property tax, retail sales tax, public safety sales tax, utility tax, criminal justice tax, B&O tax, licenses and permits, and intergovernmental.

“The revenue categories that fluctuate greatly are intergovernmental because a lot of that is grant revenue and that fluctuates year to year depending on the grants we receive,” Nanavich said. “The other is licenses and permitting and it just depends on growth in the city. We can’t always rely on those and we do tend to forecast those conservatively when we are budgeting.”

Nanavich said estimates for property tax were budgeted without a 1% increase and accounting for new construction. Yelm’s 2026 levy collection was $1,885,360, with an additional $100,000 from the city’s new annexation areas.

“This year, when I ran out my forecast, it looked like we might end 2026 with $2,025,000,” Nanavich said. “Some of that could be, maybe, somebody or some properties were in a rears in their property tax and they became current, so we got a little bump that way. I don’t really know. I just know that this year we’re seeing a little bit more.”

In fiscal years 2027 and 2028, Nanavich said the City of Yelm expects to bring in an estimated $2 million.

“The Thurston County Assessor’s Office has not sent me their preliminary numbers so I don’t have a true estimate to know what we can levy in 2027 and 2028,” she said. “I just don’t have that information yet. As I’ve talked about, the budget process is very fluid and so as we are receiving this information and progress through the budget, we will share that with the council.”

Nanavich added that Yelm’s finance department tries to use the information they have and some historical values to forecast estimates the best that it can.

Councilor Brian Hess asked Nanavich if the bump in 2026 could be attributed to the annexed properties?

“Yes, some of that is annexation,” Nanavich said. “About $100,000, but there’s other things in there.”

In the five years that Nanavich has been with the City of Yelm’s finance team, she said the city has never taken the 1% increase. Despite that, she said that 1% increase is banked and Yelm doesn’t lose capacity for not taking the increase.

“We can go to the assessor’s office and say, ‘well, we didn’t take the 1% the last four years. Now, we’re in a financial situation where we want to now take two or three years of that 1% capacity,’” Nanavich said. “It’s about $30,000 a year that we don’t assess. Nobody has paid that. It’s just available capacity that we could tap into,” Nanavich said. “If we take the capacity, taxes will go up.”

Mayor Joe DePinto claimed that Yelm stopped taking the additional 1% in 2022 when he took office, with the support of city council.

“We are doing pretty well with growth here in Yelm,” DePinto said. “With that bank, we could take it if we do need it. We are doing really well with growth in Yelm and a lot of that growth is paying for the extras, not extra, but we don’t need to take out 1% with this growth that we have. That’s just my thought on it. If council does want to take that 1%, that is up to you. But my recommendation is going to be no.”

Nanavich also provided the council with a timeline regarding budget presentations. A preliminary budget presentation is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 22, while department and capital budget presentations are scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 6, and Tuesday, Oct. 13.

On Tuesday, Oct. 27, a public hearing for Ad Valorem and Yelm’s preliminary budget are scheduled. A budget discussion can also be held on Tuesday, Nov. 10, if needed.

Lastly, second public hearings on the Ad Valorem and preliminary budget will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 24, along with the 2027-28 biennial budget adoption.