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Investigations
Real Record Investigations
Where the structure of public spending diverges from the published narrative. Each investigation rests on primary-source evidence: PRR transaction data, CAFRs, capital plans, council records, meeting transcripts. Real Record renders the pattern; the conclusion follows from the public record.
City of Bellingham · Fiscal
Bellingham's Hidden Utility Tax: 18.25% on Water, $13M/Year to General Fund
BMC 6.06 occupation taxes — embedded in rates, invisible on bills, undisclosed in every public rate-increase hearing
Bellingham charges its own water utility 18.25% and its wastewater/stormwater utilities 11.5% occupation taxes on gross revenues under BMC 6.06, extracting $13M/year to the General Fund — invisible on utility bills and undisclosed in every public communication about rate ...
Active
Whatcom County · Fiscal
Healthy Children's Fund: $26.4M in Cash, 3 Years In
Fund 1858 — voter-approved 2022 (Prop 5), $26.4M unspent at year-end 2025
The Healthy Children's Fund — voter-approved in 2022 to fund early childhood programs — held $26.4M in unspent cash at year-end 2025, and in December 2025 the County Council voted to encourage use of the fund for flood recovery.
Active
City of Bellingham · Transparency
Bellingham Affordable Housing — three streams, one label
$7-9M/yr split across three voter-approved revenue streams, two funds, two RCW chapters
Bellingham's affordable-housing program is funded by three separately-authorized revenue streams (BHAH13 property tax + BELLINGHAM-AH property tax + 0.1% sales tax under RCW 82.14.530) totaling roughly $7-9M annually, depositing into two different funds (#181 + #182) — without a ...
Active
City of Bellingham · Fiscal
Greenways Fund: $57M collected, no public parcel record
Fund 173 — voter-approved Greenway levies funding undisclosed land acquisitions
Bellingham's three voter-approved Greenway levies (II, III, V) have collectively pulled ~$57M into Fund 173 with the same one-line capital-plan authorization pattern as the Watershed Fund — and the same absence of individual-parcel council records.
Active
City of Bellingham · Fiscal
The Watershed Fund Slush Fund
Fund 411 — $24.5 million in private-property purchases, no public discussion
Bellingham spent $24,469,800.90 buying 55 private parcels through the Watershed Fund between 2020 and 2025 — and there is zero evidence of public discussion, council vote, or community input on any individual purchase.
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