Port of Everett finalizes ‘conservative’ 2026 budget

Published 5:30 pm Tuesday, November 11, 2025

EVERETT — Port of Everett officials finalized their $70 million 2026 budget at a meeting Wednesday.

The newest port budget is down from this year’s $73.2 million, thanks to revenue uncertainty and fallout from tariffs from the Trump administration, Port CEO Lisa Lefeber said on Nov. 4.

The budget includes $18.3 million for capital investments, $38.2 million for operating expenses and $9.3 million for debt services. Money for capital investments is down from the $27 million allotted in 2025, said Monique Liard, the chief administrative and financial officer for the port.

The port expects revenue of $28.7 million in freight and seaport operations for 2026, slightly up from the $28.3 million projected for 2025.

But that’s down from the $31.1 million in revenue the Port of Everett realized in 2024, port statistics show. Higher labor and operating costs are also impacting the marine operations for next year, Lefeber said.

She said international seaport expenses are projected to be $21.6 million in 2026 compared to $18 million in 2025.

The port budget indicates that it may aim to offset some of the losses through increased revenue from new restaurants, as well as existing retail and industrial businesses. The port anticipates $5.6 million in revenue from those businesses next year, compared to $4.1 million in 2025.

Port officials tried unsuccessfully in 2024 to expand the port district and its taxing power to all of Snohomish County, except for Edmonds, Woodway, Point Wells and Esperance. But in August 2024, voters rejected the plan by more than a 68% margin.

Port officials said at the time that the amount of taxes collected would have gone up from around $5.5 million to more than $30 million if most county property owners were taxed.

The 2026 budget would fund 11 individual projects and three broader umbrella projects, including seaport modernization, expansion of a waterfront community at Waterfront Place, maintenance and preservation of facilities and economic development.

Lefeber said projects that have been put on hold include funds for more park land and a project to install a traffic light and street lights at the port entrance at 13th Street and Marine View Drive.

The light would accommodate increased traffic from new port restaurants opening and other businesses, she said.

The port operates the largest public marina on the West Coast and leases out space to restaurants, retail shops, two lodging establishments and other businesses.

The light would accommodate increased traffic from new port restaurants opening and other businesses, she said.

Under the budget, residential property owners in the Port of Everett taxing district will be assessed a 2.9% increase in taxes in 2026, based on a calculation of a house worth $619,500.

Originally, at the Nov. 4 meeting, port officials had calculated an average 2.9% decrease, using a hypothetical example of a house worth $590,000.

Three days later, officials adjusted their calculation after Chris Huyboom, a levy comptroller for Snohomish County, said the previous figure did not take into account that house values had risen by 5% for the 2026 tax year. Assessments lag by one year, so the increase in assessed value covers the 12 months between January 2024 and January 2025.

On Nov. 4, an earlier version of the budget guide listed the 2026 tax bill at $106.72, citing the example of a house valued at $590,000. The budget guide said that it would be down from the $109.85 that the port estimated as a tax bill for 2025.

The original calculation would have seen a homeowner receiving a 2.9% decline in their port taxes for 2026. Port officials said a property owner’s actual tax bill would depend on the exact value of their house.

The port had originally based its calculation in tax years 2025 and 2026 without taking into account that new assessments would have raised a house’s assessed value, Huyboom said.

Huyboom said that the port raised its tax levy by 1% in 2026, the maximum allowed under state law. He said that because assessed values went up by five percent, it accounts for the larger increase beyond the one percent.

Port officials said Friday that they recalculated that a house appraised at $619,500 would pay $112.05 in port taxes in 2026.

The revised $112.05 figure was published in a Citizens’ Budget Guide on Nov. 7.

Port spokeswoman Kate Anderson said in an email to The Daily Herald on Nov. 7 that the budget guide had been changed.

“We’ve updated our Budget Guide to reflect this 5% assumption for 2026,” she said.

The 2026 port tax levy will be 0.1809 cents per $1,000 of a property’s assessed valuation.

The port will collect $5.7 million in taxes in 2026 from more than 100,000 homeowners in most of Everett, parts of Mukilteo and a small portion of Marysville. That amounts to 8.2% of the port’s budget, Lefeber said.

Randy Diamond: 425-339-3097; randy.diamond@heraldnet.com