Councilman Nehring's September Newsletter

As we approach the end of summer, I hope you all are enjoying the nice weather and great outdoors. Work continues at the Snohomish County Council as we prepare for budget season and some exciting collaboration opportunities moving forward. In this month’s newsletter, I will highlight our recent revenue forecast and upcoming budget process, our inaugural meeting of the SWISS Counties collaborative, the County’s legislative retreat, and an update I provided to the Arlington Rotary Club.  

Budget Update 

Despite continued economic strain caused by the COVID-19 economic shutdown, revenues for Snohomish County are coming in better than originally predicted. Our April sales tax revenues did not drop as much as we predicted and our May revenues actually came in higher than May of 2019. This means that despite the restrictions, many of you are still getting out and supporting our local businesses in Snohomish County. With that said, we do anticipate that the positive sales tax revenues are due, in part, to the federal stimulus payments, added unemployment benefits, and PPP loans for businesses. As some of these infusions of money into the economy drop off, we can expect that sales tax revenues will also drop. It is my hope that our COVID-19 numbers continue to trend in the right direction and we are able to safely open the economy more for commerce to continue. 

We are rapidly approaching budget season in Snohomish County, which dominates most of the month of October and into November. Later this month, the County Executive will propose a preliminary budget for Snohomish County for 2021. After receiving the Executive’s recommended budget, the County Council will hold department presentations to learn more about their priorities and strategies. Following those presentations, I will work with my fellow Councilmembers and staff to propose amendments to the preliminary budget. Ultimately, we are planning on adopting the final 2021 budget in early November. I will keep you informed of our work on the budget as we go through the process. I am also very interested in hearing your thoughts on what Snohomish County should prioritize in our 2021 budget; if you’d like to provide input to the County Council, you can send an email to Contact.Council@snoco.org.  

SWISS Meeting 

I have always believed that collaboration increases the chances of success in many aspects of life and business. This is no different when it comes to local government. On August 20th, we held the inaugural meeting of the 5 county region we are calling SWISS (Snohomish, Whatcom, Island, Skagit, San Juan). County Councilmembers, Commissioners, and Executives represented all 5 counties at our meeting. The goal of this meeting and this group is to increase the collaboration between our counties when it comes to joint requests to the legislature on issues that affect all of our communities. Issues such as the opioid epidemic, transportation, rural broadband access, and unfunded mandates affect all of us. It only makes sense that we work together to identify these shared issues and collaborate on solutions. We had a great first meeting where we discussed strategies and some of those shared priorities. I look forward to continuing to work with this dedicated group of elected officials to improve outcomes for all of our communities.  

Legislative Retreat 

Every year, Snohomish County sets a legislative agenda. This document outlines our priorities for the coming state legislative session. The County often advocates in favor or opposed to policies that would help or harm our ability to provide services for our constituents. We also identify programs or projects in our County that we request state financial support for.  

At our legislative retreat on August 20th, the County Council and County Executive held a joint legislative retreat to talk about these priorities. We discussed issues such as addressing revenue shortfalls due to COVID-19, transportation priorities and protecting our projects from delays or cuts, and reforms to the criminal justice system. I am pleased that continued funding for the Regional Apprenticeship Pathways (RAP) Program will remain a legislative priority for Snohomish County. This program has proven to be a successful pathway for our local students to enter the building and construction trades.  

Arlington Rotary Presentation 

On Thursday, August 27th, I joined the Arlington Rotary Club for their lunch hour meeting to share a Snohomish County Update with the group. I shared information related to the status of COVID-19 in our county and the positive trends we are seeing in case counts and other metrics. I also updated the group on success stories from the law enforcement-embedded social worker program in Arlington and Marysville. These ESW teams have made contact with and helped find treatment and housing for hundreds of individuals in North Snohomish County since the program’s inception in 2018. In addition, I shared information about the Cascade Industrial Center and the investments which are being made and economic development happening in the area. I always appreciate the opportunity to speak with community groups and I thank the Arlington Rotary for having me and for the great work they do in our community.  

I send out newsletters on a monthly basis to keep you informed about what I am working on and how I am representing the residents of North Snohomish County on the County Council. Please feel free to reach out to me anytime at 425-512-4810 or Nate.Nehring@snoco.org.