To provide maintenance and operations for county roads, bridges and traffic signals, Snohomish County is proposing a new Transportation Benefit District for unincorporated areas in 2026.  

A Transportation Benefit District (TBD) is a taxing district with the purpose of funding transportation related items. For Snohomish County, the revenue generated within the unincorporated areas would support the Road Fund, which pays for the maintenance and operation of the transportation system. The primary revenue source for the Road Fund is the Road Levy, which is a property tax on properties in unincorporated Snohomish County. In 2025, the Road Levy generated about $75.2 million, representing approximately four percent of total property taxes collected in Snohomish County. That means that for every $1 in property tax from taxpayers, 4 cents goes toward county roads. 

The TBD would generate revenue through a new annual vehicle license fee of $20 on all vehicles registered in unincorporated Snohomish County, which are portions of the county outside of city limits. This funding would be added to the Road Fund and would be used for maintenance and operations of the transportation infrastructure. 

I support the implementation of a TBD and will be following the details closely as this proposal moves forward. A TBD will provide a more sustainable, locally controlled funding source to support road maintenance, pedestrian safety improvements, and make investments in a more reliable and connected transportation system, which is critical for our community. 

The majority of our residents within city boundaries pay a TBD fee with their driver’s license. Creating this district is one way to bring new revenue to maintain our roads and create a system that has the road users pay for the roads. We heard clearly from directors that there would be layoffs if this does not pass and I am grateful for all the public testimony and emails on this item. 

Council voted unanimously to create the structure, but the tax levy amount was refereed back to committee for further consideration and study. There remains uncertainty for our county public works workers but I’m hopeful we can get agreement from council on these needed funds. If we do not determine a rate, we would need to lay off upwards of 34 employees in Public Works and we would have to return up to $66 million in grant funds and delay or cancel 14 roads projects.  This would be a last resort and unfortunate outcome for our county family, who have been careful to reduce costs and save funds for decades, I will continue to work with council to find support for saving these positions and the important work and road maintenance that it represents.  

For more information on the TBD, I recommend looking at the following links. 

• Transportation Benefit District – main page 

• Transportation Benefit District – fact sheet 

• New – Transportation Benefit district – Projects Deferred and At-Risk map 

• 25 years of road infrastructure improvements project list by district 

This past month we completed our first ever page program week at the council. Ten students joined us to enjoy an immersive week learning about county government, meeting people from all over the county departments and elected offices, and getting hands-on experience drafting ordinances and participating in mock hearings.  

The council office worked in conjunction with Snohomish County schools and home school programs to advertise this program for 14–17-year-old students.  

The week was comprised of spending a “day-in-the-life” with the students’ councilmember, department presentations from all over the county, video presentations on Robert’s Rules of Order, legal overview with our Prosecuting Attorney’s office, and ordinance writing. The legislative pages each selected a policy and developed a mock ordinance to that effect. The week culminated with a mock hearing where each page had the opportunity to propose their ordinance. 

I am proud that council could offer a Page Program this year to introduce high school students to the important work of County government and our council. I enjoyed spending time with the students to practice for their hearings and working with them to fine tune their proposals. All the students worked hard and gained valuable insight into the role of councilmembers. They had excellent ideas for policy improvements around pedestrian safety, our budget deficit, youth sports and human services. We look forward to continuing this program next year and following the careers of these dynamic students! 

You may have seen in the news that Councilmember Nehring proposed four ordinances around using our housing dollars for recovery work, changes to law for child endangerment and restrictions for harm reduction. I will share more information in the next newsletter, but as a quick update one item was referred back to committee for more discussion and the other three will have a public hearing in June.  

Just this week I attended the Partnership to End Homelessness event, hosted by the Everett Gospel Mission, where it was clear there is a need for additional housing that addresses the underlying issues of housing instability. Council heard testimony from providers that the new proposals would create an administrative burden and would prevent funding from getting out into the community to make a real difference.  

Two proposals would change how we allocate the funding from the Housing and Behavioral Health tax, which was a 1/10th of 1% tax passed down party lines several years ago. These dollars are allocated through an open public grant process based on public input and a five-year plan to boldly eliminate homelessness in our county for veterans, victims of domestic violence and people with disabilities. Each year, we collect over $20 million in sales tax to spend on housing and behavioral health services allowed under state law. It’s imperative that these dollars are carefully allocated based on need and our current robust public input process.  

There’s a great deal of promotion around these initiatives as they move through our process and as always, council appreciates public comment online or in person at meetings or by emailing council.contact@snoco.org.

I joined Executive Somers and his team for a tour of the New Start Center and the Pallet shelter in Everett. 

Addressing housing and homelessness has been a commitment for me and I appreciated the opportunity to tour these facilities along with Executive Somers and staff.  

Part of my responsibility as a councilmember is to represent the county on several state boards and commissions. I serve on both the Board of Directors and the Legislative Steering Committee for the Washington Association of Counties (WSAC). Two weeks ago, we had meetings in Walla Walla to discuss and plan our legislative priorities for the upcoming state legislative session. We discussed and debated twenty-two proposals and prioritized legislation for urban and rural counties and issues that impact all counties. We had lively discussions, found common ground around impacts to counties and made important decisions that impact our constituents. I value the opportunity to see other parts of the state and to better understand rural perspectives and to hear directly from other councilmembers and commissioners in the state. We decided on policy proposals to potentially address short term rentals, local taxing control, housing affordability and addressing the tax shift generated from green infrastructure. The next steps will be to create subcommittees for each priority, to draft state legislation and find sponsors and have the full body approve the final priorities. Staff lead most of this effort and the LSC members like me will monitor and advocate for the legislation in the next biennial session.  

I’ve served on LSC and the board for six years and value the lessons learned from others, over the last few years we’ve overcome major challenges and disagreements within the body and there was consensus this year that our work was much more collaborative than in the past and the meeting was well facilitated. I appreciate the efforts of the WSAC staff and our county staff and government affairs to make the retreat a success.  

“Sno-Globe” by Leah Everett is a custom-painted 58-inch steel maritime buoy installation inspired by a soccer ball in celebration of the World Cup festivities. Following the event, the artwork will remain on permanent display as part of the County’s public art collection. ”Sno-Globe” depicts scenes from Snohomish County: a 747 in flight, a fishing trawler, farmland, hot air balloons, and a subtle nod to World Cup.  

There will be photo opportunities with the artwork and custom Snohomish County scarves and other giveaways. 

Location: In front of the Carnegie Resource Center, Corner of Wall Street and Oakes Avenue in Downtown Everett.  

 

Pride Flag-Raising and Resource Fair on June 1st 

When: Friday June 12th, 2026, 10am-1pm

Where: Edmonds Community College, Brier Hall

What to expect: Speakers, food, music, and fun!

Thank you for taking the time to read my newsletter. It’s important to me to keep you updated on my work at the County and updates from my district. If you are in need of any assistance or if there is any county information that I can help to provide, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at Megan.Dunn@snoco.org. You can call our office as well at 425-388-3494 to leave a message and we’ll return your call.  

Sincerely,