Council Committee of the Whole

The Whatcom County Committee of the Whole conducted a comprehensive budget review session lasting 3.5 hours, addressing the county's 2026 budget challenges amid cautionary economic projections. The session began with discussion of a structural reform to expand committee membership from three to seven members, designed to improve collaboration and address Open Public Meetings Act concerns. The bulk of the meeting focused on budget amendments and funding priorities, with Council ultimately approving $500,000 in additional food bank support and new positions in the Prosecutor's and Clerk's offices. Deputy Executive Aly Pennucci presented revised financial projections showing a $2 million reduction in projected 2026 ending fund balance due to lower interest earnings expectations. Despite this concerning trend, the executive recommended proceeding cautiously rather than implementing immediate cuts, planning to delay discretionary spending while monitoring sales tax revenue performance following new state law changes in October. The session revealed ongoing tension between competing priorities: essential services funding versus discretionary programs, one-time emergency assistance versus sustainable program funding, and structural efficiency improvements versus traditional committee operations. Council members engaged in substantive debate over proposed cuts to Parks Department summer help funding and racial equity commission facilitation support, ultimately rejecting both proposals while approving food bank assistance through capital reserve reallocation.

**Committee Membership Reform (AB2025-780):** DISCUSSED for introduction this evening. Would expand all standing council committees from three to seven members effective January 2026, allowing improved collaboration while addressing Open Public Meetings Act quorum restrictions. **Executive Budget Amendments:** APPROVED 7-0. Accepted all executive-requested technical amendments including revenue forecast adjustments, interest earnings reductions, and various project funding corrections totaling multiple supplemental budget requests. **Strategic Planning Initiative (SBR 5225):** APPROVED 7-0. Allocated $200,000 from Community Priorities Fund risk reserve portion for countywide strategic planning consultant services, with execution potentially delayed pending revenue performance. **Parks Department Cut Proposal:** FAILED 3-4. Rejected $209,000 reduction in Parks extra help budget to fund food banks, following staff testimony about significant operational impacts on campground services and facilities maintenance. **Board/Commission Facilitation Cuts:** FAILED 3-4. Rejected $89,900 reduction in third-party facilitator funding for Justice Project Oversight and Racial Equity Commission, with concerns about legal requirements and community impact. **Food Bank Support:** APPROVED 5-2. Approved $500,000 one-time transfer from Capital Facilities Reserve Fund to community food banks, emphasizing non-sustainable nature of this emergency assistance. **Prosecutor Civil Division Position:** APPROVED 7-0. Added 0.5 FTE position ($71,000) to increase civil division capacity, leveraging existing state funding for support enforcement work. **Court Protection Order Facilitator:** APPROVED 6-1. Added position in Clerk's office (~$100,000) to address increased protection order processing demands following recent law changes. **5-Year Homelessness Plan:** APPROVED 7-0. Recommended adoption of updated housing and homelessness strategic plan with prevention focus and point-in-time count reduction goals. **Healthy Children's Fund Plan:** APPROVED 7-0. Approved implementation plan maintaining flexibility for food bank support through existing contract mechanisms. **Legislative Priorities:** APPROVED 5-2. Endorsed 2026 state legislative agenda including Swift Creek cleanup funding, court system support, and water adjudication assistance.

**Council Member Kaylee Galloway, on budget discipline:** "It's a lot more fun to approve funding for things, it's a lot less fun to cut and it's a lot less fun to raise taxes. I would hesitate to have us approve budget requests that will continue to add to our structural imbalance without making the equally difficult decision to either cut from somewhere else or to use our 1% [state authorized increase]." **Council Member Ben Elenbaas, on Parks vs. Public Works comparison:** "Public Works is making some huge cuts on employees that look a lot like this description, and they did that voluntarily. And to me, that felt very responsible... I think that it's important that all departments feel the pain equally." **Council Member Tyler Byrd, on committee structure reform:** "It defeats the purpose of having committees. You might as well, instead going this route, just remove all committees and have one committee of the whole that processes everything... This just further limits conservative input." **Deputy Executive Aly Pennucci, on fiscal caution:** "We don't want to be overly cautious and start cutting spending and impacted services to the community unnecessarily and we but we also want to be realistic about what if this gets worse, or this or doesn't get better." **Parks Director Bennett Knox, on operational impacts:** "We are a seven day a week operation, and it's not eight to five those seven days. We actually seen in the evening. So the extra help that we have are absolutely critical to maintaining the standards of care that the public expects in the park." **Council Member Mark Stremler, on priorities:** "What I hear back from the community is there is more of a need for food, then there may be for some parks maintenance. Not to diminish that at all, but to me, it just it comes down to priorities right now."