EVERETT — County Executive Dave Somers on Friday said he was allowing the county’s two-year budget to be enacted without his signature.
Somers said in a statement he strongly considered vetoing the $3.22 billion budget, which the County Council approved Nov. 25 in a 3-2 vote.
“Because Council’s consideration of the budget was delayed two weeks and with the upcoming two-week Council recess, there is not sufficient time to resolve the budget without risking a temporary shutdown of county government,” Somers said. “That would be unacceptable and I cannot in good conscience do that to our dedicated employees or to the public we serve.”
He also expressed his displeasure with the budget, vowing to, “work with my team to identify measures and strategies to lessen the negative impacts of this budget if it were to be fully enacted as adopted.”
Council members had expressed concerns about furloughs if the executive vetoed the budget. Little time would have been left the budget, which would have meant another public comment process.
Somers’ move ended a budget process that saw council and executives office wrangle over cuts and property tax increases. The county also received hundreds of public comments, many of which came in person.
The main sticking point was a property tax increase. Somers proposed an 8% hike on the county portion of a property owner’s tax bill. But the council instead passed a 4% increase.
The executive had until Friday to either approve or veto the budget.
Somers, a Democrat, was not the only one against the final budget. County Council Vice President Nate Nehring voted no on the budget, as did council member Sam Low. Both are Republicans. Tax increases were central to their opposition.
“I voted ‘no’ on the budget as I don’t believe it was appropriate to raise property taxes without a more serious look at spending reductions,” Nehring said in a statement. “I will continue to advocate for fiscal restraint on behalf of the taxpayers we are elected to represent.”
Megan Dunn, Jared Mead and Strom Peterson, all Democrats, voted to approve the budget last month.
Jordan Hansen: 425-339-3046; jordan.hansen@heraldnet.com; X: @jordyhansen.
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