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Snohomish County task force flags $14M–$27M structural gap; recommends mix of modest revenue, banked capacity and targeted cuts
Summary
A fiscal sustainability task force told the County Council on March 11 that Snohomish County faces a structural general‑fund deficit ($14M near term, ~$27M annually thereafter) and recommended a combination of banked property‑tax capacity, targeted fee and fund‑balance policies, strategic vacancy management, and (conditionally) a public‑safety sales tax as options.
Caramine Hester, chief budget officer in the county executive's office, presented the fiscal sustainability task force advisory report during the March 11 Snohomish County Council meeting and said the county faces a structural general‑fund deficit that will widen without action. "By definition, a structural deficit," she said, presenting adopted 2026 numbers showing a $14,000,000 deficit in the near term and about $27,000,000 in each year thereafter.
Hester summarized the task force’s prioritized, near‑term recommendations: use banked property‑tax capacity (about $4,000,000 sequenced across the biennium), an annual 1% property‑tax revenue increase where available, a formal fund‑balance target policy, and fee cost‑recovery with indexing. She said those baseline actions might yield roughly $5,000,000 toward the 2027–28…
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