Anacortes — The council’s fiber committee reported July 7 that the city’s municipal fiber utility had nearly 2,700 net customers and roughly 4,100 signups, representing an estimated 54% market share in covered areas, and staff presented a three‑year financial projection showing an expected draw on the general fund this year and a forecasted profit in 2027.

Councilmember McDougall, reporting from the fiber committee, said the department expects to draw about $1 million from the general fund by the end of 2025 to complete network construction. Projections shown to council estimate a $300,000 draw in 2026 and a projected net profit of about $175,000 in 2027, with increasing profits thereafter as construction expenses wind down and more subscribers attach.

Committee members also reviewed a June outage and a department root‑cause analysis that identified a misconfiguration in one optical line terminal (OLT) as the cause. Staff said the misconfiguration created a looping condition that was difficult to find and that they treat it as a one‑time event.

Why it matters: The fiber program represents a multi‑year capital and operating effort. The program’s near‑term budget needs and the plan for a general fund draw were presented as part of the committee briefing; councilors asked questions but took no formal action on July 7.

Other details

- Coverage: Staff released an updated coverage map showing broad service availability in the EDA geography; the department estimates it now covers roughly 90% of city addresses.

- Construction timeline: Network construction is expected to complete most work this year; the committee said planned network construction will largely finish by year end.

- Outage: Staff characterized the June outage as a misconfiguration in a single OLT and described it as an unlikely event to repeat.

Ending: The committee recommended continuing to monitor operations and return to council with any budget amendments or updates; staff flagged the need to potentially draw funds from the general fund in 2025 and seek smaller draws in 2026 before forecasted profitability in 2027.