Everett council presses staff for detailed FTE, library and pool costings as budget leans on one-time funds
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Summary
City staff told the Everett City Council about using roughly $5 million in one-time funds to balance the proposed 2026 general fund; council members pressed for a line-by-line account of restored FTEs, library hours and capital costs for reopening the pool before final approval.
Everett City Council members on Nov. 12 pressed city staff for detailed numbers on staffing and service restorations after staff said one-time funds were used to balance the proposed 2026 general fund budget.
“Most of those are relatively minor compared to about $5,000,000 worth of onetime monies that were transferred into the general fund to be able to balance the 2026 proposed budget,” said interim finance director Mike Bailey, who is assisting the city while staff recruit a permanent finance director. Bailey urged councilors to use the city’s six-year forecast to understand the longer-term fiscal trajectory, noting that those one-time monies "will be gone after 2026" and deficits reappear beginning in 2027.
Council members sought more transparent, public-facing figures before final action. One council member noted the jail fee revenue is “down 36% over last year,” a change staff estimated equates to a little more than $2,000,000, and asked whether that trend should reduce the budgeted jail fee revenue for 2026. Chief Daruss said the police department is pursuing diversion programs and alternatives to booking but cautioned that associated hospital and jail costs continue to rise and advised caution about cutting the jail budget too aggressively.
Several council members, including President Schwab, said the proposed 2026 budget does not restore services the community expects. "This budget does not provide the library services that we need in the city," Schwab said, and asked staff to quantify what reopening libraries full time would require in FTEs and operating dollars. Members also requested capital and operating cost estimates for reopening the pool and for deferred park and playground maintenance so those trade-offs can be clearly presented to the public.
Staff said earlier reductions (including library, parks support positions and street overlay funding) were carried forward into 2026 and that the budget relied on one-time federal and COVID-relief dollars (ARPA) and other onetime measures to present a balanced 2026 proposal. Bailey and other staff committed to returning to the council with more granular comparisons showing how the 2026 proposal differs from prior-year staffing and hour levels.
Next steps: Councilors asked staff to provide a detailed breakdown of restored FTEs, the operating and capital costs to reopen library hours and the pool, and to clarify how recurring and one-time revenue sources factor into the six-year forecast. The council did not take formal action on the budget at the Nov. 12 meeting; staff signaled the issue will be part of ongoing retreat and budget discussions.
