Dear friends and neighbors,
Today we announce some big proposed investments in Whatcom County. The funding for these projects still has to go through the negotiation process between the House and the Senate, but this House budget proposal represents the significant work by you all to bring community projects forward.
This week, the House and Senate will vote on their proposals and then head into negotiations. After agreement is reached, we’ll vote on them one last time and we’ll make sure you know what ends up in the final budgets. Below is a map of the proposed capital budget projects and a list of the proposed spending in the 42nd across all budgets. Feel free to follow-up with questions at our town hall tonight too!
Green Investment at the Intalco Facility to Attract Jobs
- $10 million to make green renovations to the aluminum smelter in Ferndale. This investment will get us one step closer to reopening the facility, restarting jobs, and hopefully, ending up with some of the greenest aluminum production in the world. We also fought for investments in housing and an East Blaine water pump in anticipation of future home development to support smelter workers.
Housing, Homelessness and Behavioral Health
- The Lummi Nation Healing Wellness Center
- Maplewood Enhance Services Facility
- Eagle Haven Cottage Village
- The Ferndale Resource Center
- CoLab to expand culturally responsive child and family mental healthcare
- Hundreds of millions statewide for affordable housing, and utility and rent assistance
Supporting working families
- Labor Day sales tax holiday to give parents a break on school supplies in the fall
- More outreach about the Working Families Tax Credit
Flooding
- Down payment for Nooksack River Integrated Floodplain Mitigation, as part of larger plan being worked on with state, local, federal and international partners
- Funds to repair schools in Noosack Valley School District and prepare for future flood risk
- Support for Whatcom County’s floodplain integrated planning team and the Noosack river international task force to coordinate all partners
Broadband and critical services
- Fire Station 34 renovations
- Point Roberts rural broadband
- $100 million statewide to build more broadband
- $7.5 million for shovel-ready site development to spur rural economic growth
Transportation
- Lummi Island Ferry
- Downtown bus station
- Bradley Road upgrades
- Slater Road construction
- Kendall Trail buildout
Education
- $108 million statewide to get more nurses, counselors and social workers in schools
- $20 million statewide to expand popular outdoor school programs
Community centers
- Community to Community Ejidos Cooperative
- Ferndale Civic and Community Campus
Join us at our town hall TONIGHT to hear about these budget investments and so much more. You can submit your questions in advance by clicking the link below. Log on at 7:30 to watch on Facebook, YouTube or Twitter.
See you tonight,
Alicia and Sharon