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Pierce County Council advances budget process, adopts several capital plans and utility programs
Summary
At its Nov. 18 session, the Pierce County Council adopted multiple planning documents tied to the 2026–27 budget — including airports and airport capital plans, the transportation improvement program, the drinking water plan, the surface water improvement program and the sewer improvement plan — and continued key budget trailer ordinances to Nov. 25 for final assembly.
Pierce County’s elected council moved several large planning documents forward on Nov. 18 as it continued work on the 2026–27 biennial budget.
The council adopted the airports capital improvement program, which staff said identifies projects for both Dunfield and Tacoma Narrows airports and lists roughly $11.8 million in expenditures for the biennium supported largely by Federal Aviation Administration grants. Erica Rhett Hunt, senior policy analyst, told councilmembers the airports CIP was amended in committee and “identifies a total of 11,800,000.0 in expenditures for the biennium, which are heavily supported by grants from the FAA.” The ordinance passed on a unanimous roll call.
Separately the council approved an ordinance that updates airport lease and rental rates at both facilities. Hunt said most fees increase about 5% in 2026 and again in 2027, with a few exceptions for transient rentals and some hangar rates; staff estimated the changes would produce roughly $90,000 in additional revenue over the biennium to cover maintenance and operations.
Transportation and water planning documents also cleared the dais. The 2026–31 Transportation Improvement Program and an updated 14‑year ferry program were adopted; staff described the TIP as identifying 116 projects over six years and a roughly $1.35 billion investment program (the TIP integrates the county’s capital priorities for roads, bridges and ferry work). The council also adopted the inaugural Drinking Water Improvement Plan for the county’s expanded Pierce County Water Utility, which staff said includes $457,700 for near-term capital needs in the biennium.
On water-quality work, the council approved the Surface Water Improvement Program. Planning and Public Works staff described a multi-year rate structure in the ordinance and explained amendments that phase in a per‑square‑foot impervious surface fee for certain nonprofits and religious institutions; the amendment requires a report back to council by Aug. 1, 2026, refining how the fee is calculated. The adoption also preserves planning-level capital projects in the biennium.
The 20‑year Sewer Improvement Program was adopted as well, identifying $449.6 million in expenditures between 2026 and 2031 with $101.8 million proposed for the upcoming biennium. Staff said projects are financed from sewer utility revenues, connection charges and bond proceeds.
Many of the planning documents the council adopted are components of the broader budget and will be rolled into the final appropriations package. Council staff recommended several of the ordinance items be continued into substituted drafts and reassembled at the Nov. 25 meeting; council members agreed to roll changes into substitutes where needed to finish technical funding alignments.
Next steps: the council continued most budget trailer ordinances and substitutes to Nov. 25, when it intends to complete the final budget package and reconcile funding shifts across funds.
