House OKs capital budget with funds for dozens of county projects

OLYMPIA — A baseball park, a behavioral health facility, a food bank building and an aging Boys and Girls Club complex.

Those are among dozens of projects in Snohomish County set to receive slivers and slices of the two-year $9 billion state capital budget approved Friday by the state House. The vote was 96-0.

Passage by the Senate could come Saturday as the state Legislature marches toward adjourning its 2023 session Sunday.

The spending plan pours money into construction projects and infrastructure across Washington for the 2023-25 biennium that begins July 1.

It sets a new high for investment in building and preserving housing, as well as steering significant sums into school construction, clean energy, environmental preservation and support of community organizations.

“This budget is truly historic in so many ways,” said Rep. Mike Steele, R-Chelan, whose district includes parts of east Snohomish County. “This puts people to work all over Washington.”

Of the total, $4.7 billion is financed with general obligation bonds. The remaining $4.3 billion comes from a variety of state and federal sources, including $717 million from auctions of pollution allowances under the Climate Commitment Act.

On the spending side, nearly $700 million is earmarked for affordable housing, of which $400 million is earmarked for grants and loans through the Housing Trust Fund and $124 million for weatherization and rebates for low-income households for purchase of energy efficient products.

There’s $224 million for behavioral health facilities in communities. Compass Health will receive $18.7 million toward its Broadway Campus Redevelopment.

“This funding will be instrumental in making Phase II of our Broadway Campus Redevelopment a reality, and we are grateful for Washington state leaders’ ongoing support of our state-of-the-art regional behavioral health center,” said Tom Sebastian, Compass Health president and chief executive officer. “Prioritizing mental health in state capital funding enables us to maximize our operating funds to focus on delivering client care.”

In Phase II, Compass Health will construct a 72,000-square-foot building to accommodate a variety of intensive services including a 16-bed inpatient evaluation & treatment unit and a 16-bed triage unit.

This should be “the last piece of the puzzle to get it shovel ready,” said Rep. Julio Cortes, D-Everett. “In the long term, I think this new facility will do wonders for our community.”

The city of Everett is getting $7.4 million for use toward designing and building a new ballpark for the AquaSox. Overall, $24 million is spread among 11 communities with ballparks in need of field improvements and stadium upgrades. They are located throughout the state, including Spokane, Tacoma, Pasco, Bellingham and Longview.

Completing the project in Everett is expected to take at least three years and cost upward of $80 million. City leaders’ vision is for a public park and an outdoor amphitheater along with a ball field.