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Bellingham City Council members are looking at whether a proposed tax to fight climate change at the local level should be a property tax, an assessment on natural gas suppliers or a surcharge on customers’ gas bills.

Those were the options that the council’s Climate Action Committee heard in a presentation Monday, March 28, that addressed Mayor Seth Fleetwood’s call for a funding source that would allow the city to speed implementation of its Climate Action Plan. Members of the committee discussed possible revenue streams after the presentation — the first of three scheduled discussions before the City Council will decide in June if it will ask voters to approve such a tax on the November ballot.

Seth Vidaña, the city’s climate and energy manager, said a tax would provide a stable source of funding so the city could reduce its carbon emissions, help the city adapt to a changing climate — such as repeated flooding, smoky skies or heat waves — and ease the financial burden of climate change on its “vulnerable populations.”