Did You Know Anacortes revises its budget four times a year during its quarterly budget amendment process? Citizens in Anacortes have raised concerns over the city’s 2025 proposed budget. Comments have been submitted at the City Council meetings during budget planning sessions. At the end of 2024, the City Council approved a $124 Million budget for fiscal year 2025. For the 18,270 citizens, that is more than $6,800 per person, the highest rate in Skagit County.
On a per capita basis, Anacortes is 37% higher than Burlington 122% higher than Sedro Wooley, and 135% higher than Mount Vernon as shown in Table 1. For the past 10 years, Anacortes has increased its city budget by $75 Million, an average 15% budget increase per year while is population growth averaged 1% per year (Table 2).
The budget amount for each year in Table 2 was from the “Final Budget File” for each year in the city’s budget archive. It is worth noting that from 2022 to present, Anacortes has been using a quarterly budget review process to revise the city budget throughout the year. For instance, the initial Budget for 2024 was $109.4 Million. However, on December 16, 2024 the city revised the 2024 budget number to $120.6 Million to more closely match the actual amount spent. This is a 10% or $11 Million more than the initial budget. Obviously, Anacortes does not really utilize a budget, instead they revise the budget numbers based on actual expenditures on a quarterly basis.
On December 2, 2024, the city published its 2025 adopted budget of $124 Million, a 3.3% increase from its 4th Quarter revised budget number or a 14% increase from its original 2024 budget number. To balance its 2025 budget, the city council approved a 1% property tax, a 3% service rate increase and transferred $2.6 from its reserves. In addition, the city council approved a $12 Million bond to cover the remaining balance of the fiber project, and a $4 Million loan to make up the budget balance.
The goal of a budgeting process is to allocate revenues and provide guidelines on expenditures. There is no difference between managing a budget for a private business or a city. As citizens of Anacortes, we have to set priorities, trim expenses and live within our means. We require that the city council use the annual budget to hold the city government accountable in managing expenses against the budget. From 2015-2025, Anacortes had an average 15% budget increase per year.
A significant portion of the Anacortes population are retired seniors who are on a fixed income and do not have anywhere near 15% increase in their retirement income. A 15% per year city budget hike is neither reasonable nor sustainable.
Sal Walker
Anacortes, WA