After approving a preliminary budget two weeks ago, the La Conner Town Council gave a final, unanimous thumbs up to the 2026 budget, which includes $6.46 million in revenues and authorizes the Town to spend up to $7.426 million.
The budget allocates $308,000 for the design engineering of the Channel Drive waterline replacement project, $25,000 for security cameras at Pioneer Park, $10,000 for a public bicycle repair station, $12,000 for sidewalk repairs, $18,000 for handheld radios for firefighters, and $85,000 for asphalt repairs, among other things.
Expenditures that were removed include $200,000 from the sewer plant upgrade project, repairs and repainting of the Garden Club’s exterior ($150,000), a new street sweeper ($258,000), the design of South First Street ($86,000) and projects at Maple Park, the Jensen Property, the Kirsch Property and Jordan Street end (for a total of $200,000).
When asked about the reason for the reductions, Town Administrator Scott Thomas explained in an email that La Conner’s largest revenue streams are property and sales taxes, but the Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council predicts that Washington’s unemployment rate will increase up to 4.7% in 2027, and that the housing market outlook will remain weak with higher mortgage rates. Inflation is also still higher than pre-pandemic rates.
“Taken together all of this means that economic conditions for 2026 are unpredictable, and that now is the time for local governments to be more fiscally conservative than might otherwise be the case,” he wrote.
Luisa Loi is a general assignment reporter for La Conner Community News.
