A Thriving City
The City of Burlington is experiencing a stable financial status, thanks to the prosperous businesses that have been contributing to record-breaking sales tax revenues the last few years combined with underspending of the city budget. The current sales tax revenue is on track to set another record, while the reserve account balances are at an all-time high level, making the future of the city secure. Later this year, I will again present a balanced budget to the Council with no increase in property tax rates.
A Growing City
Burlington is currently seeing an unprecedented rise in mixed-use projects that combine commercial spaces with multi-family housing. In the last 4 years, 32% of Skagit County's population growth has been in Burlington due to the construction of these new projects. With larger projects currently underway, we can expect this growth to continue in the coming years. It is a source of immense pride when builders and developers express interest in taking on more projects in Burlington. However, this growth also poses a challenge to city services, especially our traffic system. If we continue to grow without proper planning and improvements to traffic flow, the weak spots in our current system will only worsen. Unfortunately, my opponent has hindered our progress by voting against a $1.7 million grant that the city had received to improve the George Hopper/I-5 interchange, an area heavily impacted by growth.
Citizen Saftey
The Burlington Police Department, along with other departments in Washington State, is experiencing a shortage of personnel. However, we stand firm in maintaining our high standards despite a decline in both the quantity and quality of applications. Our commitment to professionalism and safety is reflected in the fact that in the past 12 years, we have responded to over 120,000 service calls without receiving a single complaint of excessive force. To address the staffing shortage in 2022, I brought to Council a bonus payment initiative to incentivize experienced officers to transfer to our city. This program has enabled us to hire 6 experienced officers at a budgetary savings of approximately $480,000 if we had been able to hire new officers. We will continue to utilize this program as an effective tool to fulfill our staffing needs while preserving our standards. Conversely, my opponent voted against accepting a grant we had been awarded that would have funded 2 officers. In the upcoming months, I will ask for the Council's approval of a plan I previously introduced to them. The plan involves the City of Burlington contributing $100,000 to the Skagit County Sheriff's Office. The funds will go towards supporting the Skagit County Inter-Agency Drug Unit. This contribution is necessary, as our officer assigned to the unit has moved out of state to continue their career in law enforcement. Until we can assign another officer to the unit, the budgeted amount for the officer will serve as a contribution. It recognizes the level of service provided to the City of Burlington by SCIDU in combating not only drug crimes but a wide range of other serious infractions.
Combating Homelessness
Despite my opponent's objections and consistent votes against it, I successfully established the Skagit First Step Center in partnership with Skagit County and other cities in 2021. The SFSC, situated on Pease Rd. in Burlington, includes 45 "cabins" and a large building that offers crucial services. Residents can stay for up to 90 days, and the center records an average of nearly 15,000 bed nights including nearly 500 law enforcement drop-offs annually. This initiative has helped individuals who would have otherwise been sleeping in our public spaces, sidewalks, or parks. Thanks to the partnership with other cities and the county, I managed to set up the SFSC without utilizing Burlington General Fund dollars for construction or operations. Despite this, my opponent still voted against the establishment of the SFSC, and even dubbed it a "failure". While the SFSC has achieved its intended purpose of getting individuals off the streets and providing them with basic social services, it has brought to light a county-wide need for transitional housing that has existed for years. With this in mind, we have developed initial designs for a renovated facility at the SFSC site. This new facility would offer longer-term transitional housing and additional social services, all in one location. In this legislative climate, there are multiple grant funding opportunities for the construction of such a facility.