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Anacortes staff outline capital‑facilities requests and warn of REET, utility gaps
Summary
Public works and finance staff presented the city’s draft capital facilities plan, showing near‑term Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) constraints and utility funding shortfalls; staff offered options including phased projects, modest utility rate increases and prioritization of REET allocations.
City staff presented the draft 2026–2031 Capital Facilities Plan to the Anacortes City Council on Sept. 22 and warned that current Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) balances and projected collections will not meet the full list of transportation, facilities and park requests without prioritization or new revenue. Steve Hoagland and the public works team told council the city had roughly $4.3 million in REET cash on hand as of Sept. 17 but that projects already budgeted for 2025 would reduce available funds and leave the city with limited new REET for 2026 projects.
The plan matters because REET, utilities and grant income fund most public‑works construction; shortages require councils to choose which projects to move forward, delay or repackage. Hoagland walked council through water, storm, wastewater, operations/facilities and transportation requests and said staff will recommend prioritizing a subset of projects and bringing quarterly budget updates to council.
Public‑works staff showed multi‑year funding scenarios for water, storm and…
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