Councilman Nehring's July Newsletter

As we approach the 4th of July weekend and Independence Day, I hope you all get the chance to celebrate our country and the freedoms we enjoy. While celebrations may look different this year, that doesn’t change the fact that we have so much to be grateful for in this great country of ours. In this month’s newsletter, I will update you on COVID-19 in Snohomish County, the County’s budget and the impacts from the economic shutdown, the recent protests and discussion surrounding criminal justice reform, and my recent presentation to the Stanwood Rotary Club. 

COVID-19 Update 

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to define much of what is happening in our daily lives. Some positive news from this past month is that we moved to Phase 2 on June 5th. This allow many of our businesses to safely open up at partial capacity. This was a great step toward getting our people back to work and our economy back on the right track. While we open up, it is crucial for residents to remain diligent in slowing the spread of the virus so that we can continue to reopen safely and keep our neighbors healthy while avoiding a second wave. 

As of the most recent report on June 27th, Snohomish County has 3,438 confirmed COVID cases. Many of those are recovered. When we entered into Phase 2 three weeks ago, we had 3,044 confirmed cases. This represents 394 new cases in 21 days. We are decreasing the new confirmed cases per day but a spike in new cases last week set our Phase 3 application submittal back. I will continue to work with my colleagues in Snohomish County and at the Snohomish Health District to get us safely to Phase 3 as soon as possible in order to get more of our businesses open again. 

As I shared with you in my last newsletter, the Snohomish County Council appropriated over $140 million in CARES Act relief funding for COVID-19 response and recovery. I am happy to report that the Small Business Relief, Recovery and Resiliency (R3) grant program has been very successful. We saw over 2,000 applications to the program, which shows the critical need in our communities for economic relief. The first round recipients of the small business grants have been announced and a second round is currently underway. I appreciate the partnership with Workforce Snohomish, the agency administering the grants, and the efforts to support our small businesses during this difficult time.  

County Budget 

Due to the significant economic shutdown brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, Snohomish County is expecting a $27 million revenue shortfall. This is because a large portion of the County’s general fund is made up of sales tax revenue. Since businesses were closed and people were staying home, there was less economic activity, resulting in less sales tax revenue to the County. To address this revenue shortfall, I worked with my fellow Councilmembers and Executive Dave Somers to adopt an emergency budget revision ordinance. This budget revision made spending cuts to programs, projects, and departments to help balance the budget. As part of these cuts, we also implemented a furlough plan which instituted 5 unpaid furlough days for County employees to reduce expenditures. This is in addition to a hiring freeze which was previously enacted by the Council.  

While this budget revision helps balance our 2020 situation, we must remain diligent as we look toward next year. The 2021 budget will be similarly difficult as the economy recovers from the COVID-19 shutdown. We are anticipating revenue shortfalls next year as well. Moving toward the 2021 budget process, I will continue to work with my colleagues to identify cost savings and stretching limited tax revenues further to continue to provide essential services at Snohomish County without new taxes. I will continue to keep you updated as we get closer to the budget process this fall.  

Criminal Justice Reform & Addressing Racism 

As you have seen, the horrific killing of George Floyd has prompted protests across the Country and here locally in Western Washington and Snohomish County. I am of the belief that we can, and should, discuss policing and discrimination in the criminal justice system without demonizing police. We must have meaningful conversations about police reforms and other needed improvements to the criminal justice system. I am open to these conversations and look forward to hearing from the community on these issues. While I am open to these ideas, I stand strongly against calls to “defund the police” as some local advocates have called for. I wrote an op-ed in the Everett Herald explaining my position on this proposal that you can read here.

Defunding the police is a nonstarter. If we are going to have meaningful discussions around reforms, we must not get distracted by radical proposals that undermine the will of the people. Over the past three and a half years serving on the Snohomish County Council, I have heard overwhelmingly from my constituents and residents across the County that they desire more police on the street, not less. I will continue to listen and work toward solutions for reform without being distracted by fringe proposals like defunding or abolishing the police.  

I also had the opportunity this past month to participate in a Peaceful March Against Racism which took place in Marysville. This event was organized by local high school students and they gave very inspiring remarks to kick off the march. Over 1,000 people were in attendance and it was great to see the community rally together in a peaceful manner to demonstrate against racism.  

Stanwood Rotary 

On June 24th, I joined the Stanwood Rotary club to present an update on Snohomish County government. I enjoy taking the time to speak to community and service groups and share insights from the County Council. This also gives me an additional opportunity to hear about what local issues matter most to the residents of District 1. We spoke about the COVID-19 response and economic recovery as well as other important topics like the response to the opioid epidemic, transportation projects, and regional coordination with other counties. Like many of us, they conducted their meeting via Zoom due to social distancing guidelines. They had a lot of great questions and I appreciated them having me. They also installed their new President, Terrence Bedford. Congratulations Terrence! I look forward to working with you.  

I wish each of you a Happy Independence Day this weekend! As always, please don’t hesitate to contact me at any time with questions or concerns at 425-388-3494 or Nate.Nehring@snoco.org.