Whatcom County, amid its biennial budget process, is experiencing growing pains as it works to end deficit spending.
On Oct. 29 and 30, leaders from the many departments that make up county government took turns presenting their teams’ budgets, accomplishments and needs to the Whatcom County Council. During their presentations, the department heads repeated concerns about staff burn-out and understaffing, inefficiencies, deferred maintenance, slow response times to the public, lack of long-range planning and inadequate facilities, systems, resources and technology.
“We are so lean in this county,” said Health and Community Services Director Erika Lautenbach. She said the leanness contributes to stress and morale issues, and pointed out that many of the “big community challenges are sitting at our doorstep,” including the fentanyl crisis, homelessness, mental health issues and the child care shortage.
Several county officials pointed to unfunded legislative mandates — rules passed down by state lawmakers that make the work of local government more time-intensive or complicated without helping pay for added resources.
In the judicial system, one example of an unfunded mandate is the streamlined protection order process, which has resulted in a significant increase in filings — from 168 protection order filings in 2022 to 436 so far in 2024.
Executive Satpal Sidhu, a veteran of seven years of budget planning as a council member and executive, said his previous two proposed biennial budgets were focused on response and recovery from the pandemic and the November 2021 floods.
This time, his proposed budget focuses on continuing to meet community expectations for services, along with investments in administrative services — all while keeping costs in check. Sidhu implemented a hiring freeze in July that will be reevaluated after the budget is adopted, and requested that department heads refrain from proposing new projects and find operational savings.
“We are making a serious attempt to recognize and prioritize core county services,” Sidhu said, calling the budget a “corrective course of action for the county’s fiscal health.”
This year, the county has seen disappointing sales tax revenue and the end of COVID-era federal aid, while personnel and material costs have increased. In Washington, governments can only raise their tax revenue from existing properties by 1% per year, a cap that means revenue doesn’t keep up with inflation.
Whatcom isn’t alone in its struggles — other counties are even worse off, according to a financial health report from the state auditor’s office.
The budget lists expenses of $381 million in 2025 and $318 million in 2026, down from an estimated $429 million in 2024. It includes the use of all the banked capacity (tax dollars the county could have taken in the past but didn’t) available in both the general and road fund, as well as the 1% annual property tax hike and increased fees for county offerings like planning permits and park facility rentals.
The county’s banked capacity in the general fund is $3.9 million and $3.7 million in the road fund. If the county council approves the proposed budget and opts to use both funds’ banked capacity, a homeowner with a property assessed at $700,000 would see an annual property tax increase of around $45 for the general fund and $92 for the road fund. The road levy’s impact on a homeowner is larger because it only applies to properties in the unincorporated county; owners in cities pay into a municipal road fund instead.
Council member Mark Stremler mused that the county had two options and “neither are pleasant”: increase property taxes or cut services and staff. “Someone’s gonna end up paying the piper in some way,” he said.
“I hear the organizational stress,” council member Kaylee Galloway said, adding she felt it would be disingenuous to not acknowledge the need to modernize processes and infrastructure in the county.
By the end of the two-year cycle, the proposed budget achieves the goal (barely) of ending deficit spending in the general fund. The recommended budget leaves a cushion in the general fund of around $28 million by late 2026. But, Sidhu reminded the council, one biennium will not fix the structural gaps.
The county also has looming expenses that aren’t accounted for in the budget, such as possible caseload caps for public defenders, environmental cleanup, jail health services and labor negotiations in 2026.
County treasurer Steven Oliver warned the council that the organization can’t continue on the path it’s been on, emphasizing the need to rethink “how the county does business.”
“It’s just math,” Oliver said.
The executive’s office has some strategies to keep operations sustainable, such as financial planning, a fiscal transparency program, pursuing new revenue streams, advocacy at the state level and a budget prioritization exercise to inventory all county programs and services.
“It’s going to be really important for us to continue to keep up with cost increases and get some clarity on what are the priorities, what is statutorily required and where are there areas where we could save some money in order to address emergent needs,” deputy executive Aly Pennucci said.
The county council will begin to deliberate on budget adjustments during its committee of the whole meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 6. The council could adopt the budget as soon as Nov. 19 after a public hearing, but may opt instead to continue working on it through the month.
Julia Tellman writes about civic issues and anything else that happens to cross her desk; contact her at juliatellman@cascadiadaily.com.
