BELLINGHAM — Taxpayers paid $13,374 more for the City Council’s 2008 retreat compared to 2007, according to receipts provided by the city.

City officials say the increase was necessary to organize the event, designed to allow council members to articulate their goals to the mayor and his administration before the city’s budget season begins.

In Bellingham, where the council passed a $229.6 million budget for 2008, a retreat is crucial to organize the thoughts of the city’s legislative body, said Council President Barbara Ryan.

“This is an opportunity to talk about the most fundamental work the council does, which is to set policy for the city,” Ryan said. “You can do it on the fly by the seat of the pants, but I don’t think that’s what the public expects of us.”

Management Partners Inc. was paid $14,300 to prepare for, plan and facilitate and then deliver a final report on the retreat, according to contract documents

between the San Jose, Calif., firm and the city. Facilitator Steve Burkett works for the company out of Edmonds. Food, transportation and hotel costs brought the retreat’s total to $17,657.

Last year, the city paid $3,906 to Dumas & Associates of Everson for facilitation. But that firm wasn’t available for this year’s retreat, Ryan said.

The city also is dealing with three new council members and a new mayor, finance director, human resources director, police chief and chief administrative officer, Ryan said. She pointed out that it takes a lot of work to get all of the new people in a position to understand communication between officials and what roles everyone plays in the policy-making process.

In past years City Council members had lost focus of the most basic goals they wanted to achieve, said Ryan, who has served on the council for the past decade.

“Our list of priorities had grown somewhat since 2002,” she said. “If you have 60 priorities, they lose their meaning at some point.”

On blogs and on Web sites, some people criticized city officials for traveling to La Conner for the retreat, rather than keeping it local. In 2007 the council met at the Municipal Court Building Fireplace Room.

Ryan said in past years the council has met in the city, but people then had the opportunity to run in and out of the retreat to attend other city meetings. The focus of the retreat was then lost.

The council also has tried to have a retreat before without a facilitator.

“We did that one year, and it was a complete waste of time,” she said.

A facilitator needs to be there to glean the major policy directions that council members and the administration want, Ryan said.

Ryan and Councilman Stan Snapp, who responded to online commenters and offered his thoughts on the retreat, both said they enjoyed the event and believe that the council and administration are now better prepared to work on the city’s budget.

“When you have that many people at those pay levels in one place,” Ryan said, “you want to make sure that it is as tight and professional and focused as you possibly can be, because it’s expensive. If you added up all of those salaries, that’s really expensive.”

The council also has tried to have a retreat before without a facilitator.

“We did that one year, and it was a complete waste of time,” she said.

A facilitator needs to be there to glean the major policy directions that council members and the administration want, Ryan said.

COUNCIL GOALS

Bellingham City Council members whittled down their many objectives into six specific policy goals they want the administration to focus on during the 2009 budget-writing process:

-Reverse the decline in Lake Whatcom water quality by 2015.

-Encourage alternative transportation.

-Implement a vibrant waterfront plan that reflects the Waterfront Futures Group’s priorities.

-Increase the affordable housing supply.

-Master plan urban villages.

-Establish clear budget priorities with implementation strategies.

-Establish clear budget priorities with implementation strategies.