San Juan County Auditor’s Office will present the 2027 preliminary budget which includes $3.7 million in potential modifications identified
||| FROM SAN JUAN COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS |||
The San Juan County Auditor will present a preliminary balanced budget for fiscal year 2027 to the County Council on August 25. This is the next critical step in what is a challenging budget building process for the County. If the 2027 budget were adopted with the same staffing and service levels as 2026, current projections indicate there would be an approximate $4 million deficit in the County’s current expense fund, also known as the general fund.
This projected deficit reflects a continuing trend in which inflation driven costs have outpaced basic sustainable revenues. Rising costs, capped levy rates, unfunded state mandates, and declining financial support from the state and federal governments all play a part. Similar fiscal pressures are being felt across Washington State, with many jurisdictions navigating comparable budget constraints. Despite those constraints, local governments in Washington are required to adopt a balanced budget.
To address the deficit, Council held a series of meetings in June to provide direction to department leaders and elected officials on potential cuts to staffing and service levels. At their meeting on June 30, Council provided initial direction to all departments and elected officials on the budget reduction scenarios brought forth. After robust deliberation, Council provided initial direction of $3.7 million dollars in potential reductions.
Notable potential reductions Council approved
- Changes to the Senior Services program, including decreased frequency of Meals on Wheels services and reduced public clinic services, including vaccinations
- Eliminating key management positions in the Facilities and Environmental Stewardship Departments while maintaining all existing programs and services of those departments
- Eliminating or holding critical positions vacant in almost every department across the County to generate cost savings in 2026 and 2027, including many in the law and justice departments
- Reducing maintenance at County Parks
- The potential closure of the County’s Eastsound Village Green Park on Orcas Island
- Reduction in funding for the Guardian ad Litem program for High-Risk Family Law
- Reduction in funding to the Islands Oil Spill Association
- Reduction in funding to the WSU Extension Forestry program
In July, Council continued its budget discussions by reviewing three new revenue options authorized by recent state legislation. These included a one‑tenth of 1% sales and use tax dedicated to public safety programs, a five‑cent per $1,000 of assessed value property tax levy to support public health clinics, and the separation of an existing veterans’ assistance levy and an existing mental health and developmental disabilities levy from the current expense property tax levy into standalone levies.
Currently, Council has only requested additional information on separating the mental health and developmental disabilities levy. A 2026 state legislative change removes previous exemptions that had allowed the County to collect less than the 2.5 cents per $1,000 of assessed value required by the State for this levy; the County now has an obligation to collect the full amount as a result. This could add an additional $320,000 in costs to the general fund. If Council were to establish a standalone levy for either veterans’ assistance or mental health and developmental disabilities, the action would eliminate their draw on the current expense fund.
Following the presentation of a preliminary balanced budget on August 25th, the County will discuss segments of the budget in September meetings, culminating in a public hearing on October 6th prior to adoption of the final 2027 budget. Community members are invited to attend the August 25 Council meeting and all future meetings in the Legislative Hearing Room, located at 55 Second Street in Friday Harbor, or to watch and participate virtually through streaming online.
For more information on San Juan County’s budget process, past reports, and quarterly updates, visit: https://www.sanjuancountywa.
Questions? Contact: TilleryW@sanjuancountywa.gov
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What this “communication” does not clearly state is that the County Council intends to eliminate the Environmental Stewardship Department. While they claim the county will “maintain all existing programs and services of those departments,” this misses entirely the original motivation for the creation of this department and worse, likely returns us to a situation where our critical environmental resources, and the hundreds of jobs that depend upon them, are at much greater risk.
The rationale for the creation of the San Juan County Department of Environmental Stewardship was simple; our local environment matters… a lot. It matters for public enjoyment, cultural preservation and health but it also the baseline of every critical economic driver in our county from tourism to construction to real estate to the dozens of other amazing jobs working directly in conservation and stewardship. Our environment is what drives our entire economy, and we finally have a County Department dedicated to protecting that critical economic driver.
Historically, the county had some of these functions being addressed within other departments. Unfortunately, every single other department has other priorities. Public Works, Community Development and Planning and other departments have their own important existing priorities – many of which are mandated by state law as priorities for those departments. What we learned over decades was that the environment would never be appropriately prioritized until it had its own department with its own Director – recognizing that our County Department Directors don’t just run a department; they advocate for its priorities. Just like our Public Works Director or Community Development and Planning Director advocate for their top priorities, we must have an individual Department Director and an individual Department advocating for the environment.
Yes, the budget has a deficit. Yes, we need to make hard decisions. However, splitting up the functions of this critical mission into numerous departments that already have their own priorities is unconscionable. Eliminating the Department through a budget vote with a press release that makes it sound as if it’s nothing to pay attention to, instead of having an active discussion regarding the impactful decision to terminate the Department and the Director’s position is… shameful.