Bellingham City Council approved how the new jail and behavioral health facility in Whatcom County will be financed.
The Monday, May 6 vote that passed unanimously ensures Bellingham will have future equal access to the proposed facility and determines how Bellingham will work with the other cities and Whatcom County to pay for the estimated $150 million facility.
The financing agreement comes six months after voters approved a 0.2% sales tax hike on retail goods and services to pay for the new facility proposed in Ferndale. The seven cities in Whatcom County will be able to pay for the facility over the next four to six years as well as future expenses incurred for the Justice Project.
The other six cities in Whatcom County will also have votes in the coming days on the jail financing agreement. Whatcom County will discuss the agreement Tuesday, May 7.
Whatcom County sent a letter to the cities on April 22 that laid out the details of how the revenue collections will be spent as well as when the cities will pay off their portion of the debt service for the jail. That letter came nearly a year after the cities announced their intention to help support the financing of a new jail.
A Cascadia Daily News 2023 investigation found the current Whatcom County jail to be overcrowded and in poor condition, impacting not only those incarcerated, but also correctional officers.
Bellingham, Blaine, Everson, Ferndale, Lynden, Nooksack and Sumas will initially contribute 75% of the revenue collected from their portion of the sales tax into the capital funds project, which includes paying the construction bond, while Whatcom County will contribute 100% of its portion.
The other 25% of the revenue collected by Bellingham will be used to fund projects that align with the Justice Project Implementation plan, including investing in behavioral and social services. That revenue will eventually become part of the budget.
Ahead of the vote Monday night, council member Michael Lilliquist said that a majority of the revenue will go toward the Justice Implementation Plan over the long run.
“If you’re one of the people who didn’t like the idea of spending all this money on a jail, please realize many of us were also fighting with the other aspects to prevent crime,” he said, “to address root causes that made the community safer by not treating it as a criminal problem, but by treating it as a problem in many other ways.”
Revenue collections from the sales tax will start in June with an anticipated $14 million to be collected by 2025.
If Bellingham, or any of the other cities in Whatcom County, didn’t approve of the funding agreement, it could impact how they get access to the jail in the future.
“I think [the county] would be within their rights to prevent us from using it based on the way this agreement is structured,” said Forrest Longman, deputy finance director for the City of Bellingham.
He added that the agreement also featured stronger language than in the past about booking restrictions, including that all cities have equal priority to the jail and if a restriction were to happen, then all parties would have to work together to come up with a solution.
The new jail, which could have 440 beds, is expected to open at the earliest in 2028. By 2031, Bellingham and the small cities are expected to pay off their portion of the debt service.
Annie Todd is CDN’s criminal justice/enterprise reporter; reach her at annietodd@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 130.
