Deliberating and approving the county budget each year is the most important decision that our county council makes, and as we near our final vote I wanted to provide you with an update. Our county budget is a reflection of our shared values, and I take that responsibility very seriously. An equally important responsibility is to ensure that we as a county are being good stewards of taxpayer dollars, while still providing essential services.
Since early September when council received the proposed budget, there has unfortunately been an onslaught of misinformation and uncorrected misunderstandings of the impacts it would have on households in the county. This misinformation has only muddied conversations and unnecessarily brought fear and uncertainty to residents in our county. As elected leaders, it’s our duty to provide accurate and transparent information to residents, not monger resentment and burn bridges.
It’s time to set the record straight, temper emotions, and pledge that we will engage in civil and factual discourse.
Since 2001 our county’s general fund budget has been limited by state law to grow by only 1% per year, however expenses tend to grow by 4% per year because government also experiences the pressures of inflation like the rest of the community. There have been times when previous budgets did not implement the 1% increase, but instead banked it to use at a later date – a term called “banked capacity” - and at this point, the county has 6% in banked capacity. State law expressly allows for this practice. Recently, this imbalance between allowed budget growth and increases to the cost of doing business has been felt strongly as costs have far outpaced the 1% cap. Despite this imbalance, the county has worked for years to find efficiencies, reduce spending, and diligently tighten our belts, and this year is no exception. In order to preserve services and avoid layoffs the proposed biennial budget includes 3% in cuts and underspending to general fund departments, but these cuts aren’t enough to preserve services.
The current proposed biennial budget from the County Executive includes an increase in our county’s levy rate which draws down our full banked capacity. This would be the 1% allowed increase, plus 3% of our banked capacity, for a total of 4% for 2025, and a duplicate 4% in 2026. It’s important to remember that this proposed increase is NOT an increase in your overall property tax bill, it only applies to the county portion of your property taxes which is about 6% of your overall tax bill. The current levy rate would increase a little over $0.02 cents per $1000 of a property’s assessed value. For a house valued at $650,000 the increase would be around $14-15 of property taxes for the year.
It bears repeating: the proposed 8% property tax increase over two years only applies to the county’s portion of your property tax bill, which is about 6% of your overall bill, would amount to about $14-$15 per year, and would prevent cuts to public safety and other essential services in the county.
During budget deliberations, we have heard from councilmembers who support no increase in the levy rate. An amendment would cut eight million and includes one million in cuts our sheriff’s department, which I oppose. Now is not the time to defund our sheriff’s department when public safety is a top concern for community members. Other cuts to our parks department, courts, elections office, public health and general fund departments would hamper our county’s quality of life and ability to meet the community’s needs. An alternative amendment would strike a balance by preserving some county services, but also not taking the full amount of bank capacity needed to adequately maintain all county services and relies on spending down our savings to potentially unstable levels.
Another proposed amendment to cut the Executive department misconstrues findings from a recent audit to justify the elimination of targeted positions, programs, and funding for our Office of Social Justice and the investments that they provide to community groups. These employees and investments bring great value to our county, and we shouldn’t make isolated cuts to their important work.
It’s critical that elected leadership fosters an environment where this budget dialogue starts from a shared baseline of facts. Only then can we cultivate civility and understanding across the diverse opinions of ways that our county budget should be allocated.
Knowing that there are pressures that property taxes can place on low-income and fixed-income people in the community, I wanted to make sure that you were aware of tax relief programs that are available at the county for people who qualify. They are listed here: https://www.snohomishcountywa.gov/328/Property-Tax-Exemptions.
I will continue to work on this important matter and look for ways that we can exercise savings and efficiencies without eliminating programs that benefit our community or county staff who work hard every day to serve the residents of our county.
Council is scheduled to make a final vote on the county’s 2025-2026 budget on Monday, November 25, at the 9am Public Hearing meeting.
