Did You Know that just eight months after adopting the 2026 budget, Anacortes wants another $2.7 million? On Monday, July 13, 2026, the Anacortes City Council will consider Ordinance 5033: a $2,718,453 budget increase for 2026.

Budget amendments happen. Priorities shift, grants arrive, and true emergencies occur. But this one deserves sharp scrutiny.

The ordinance itself admits several items “were not included in the 2026 budget” that staff now wants to fund this year. The central question: How much of this spending was genuinely unforeseen – and how much was simply left out of the budget taxpayers were told would cover the year?

Where the Money Goes

• $1,920,000 – Water Treatment Plant North Line Repair Project
• $325,000 – Emergency water line replacement
• $160,000 – Intake pump station condition assessment
• $250,000 – North Star Project (opioid settlement funds)
• Plus staffing adjustments and other smaller items

The North Star contribution supposedly wasn’t known at budget time. That may be fair if the funding truly materialized later.

Far more concerning are the major Water Utility projects. Two of them were already underway at the end of 2025 yet were completely omitted from the 2026 budget – even though the work continues this year. This raises a troubling possibility: Were these massive projects deliberately left off the books to make the initial budget look balanced, temporarily masking a gap that we now see widening?

The $325,000 emergency waterline repair after a main break is exactly what reserves are built for; most residents support handling true emergencies. The real problem is lumping foreseeable, ongoing work into that same “emergency” category to justify pulling from our savings.

Much of this $2.7 million isn’t coming from cuts to lower-priority items. It’s being drained directly from the City’s unassigned and reserved fund balances.

Good budgeting isn’t just balancing the books on adoption day to look good on paper. It’s delivering transparency so elected officials and taxpayers understand the real financial commitments ahead. Before voting on another $2.7 million, the most important question isn’t whether these projects are worthwhile. It’s whether the original budget was accurate and honest in the first place.

Anthony Lee

Anacortes, WA