TACOMA – On Tuesday, Nov. 21, the culmination of more than two months of work took shape with the Pierce County Council’s adoption of the final 2024-2025 Biennial Budget. The budget is the framework used to fund public services and invest public dollars into the priorities of the community and their elected Council for the next two years.
Ordinance No. 2023-44s3 will head to the office of Executive Bruce Dammeier for signature into law and take effect Jan. 1, 2024.
“I’m proud of this budget,” said Council Chair Ryan Mello (District 4) “This budget reflects the Council’s priorities and our community’s needs; we were able to make significant investments across all of our priority areas and employ innovative strategies to address some of our most pressing issues.”
One of those strategies is the creation of an Affordable Housing Development and Preservation Rapid Acquisition Program. This program invests $2.75 million for the Pierce County Community Development Corporation to provide low-interest loans to rapidly assist nonprofit organizations with property purchases for affordable housing development or preservation.
“When I explain this program, I like to use mobile home parks as an example,” said Mello. “Mobile homes are generally located on land owned by a property manager. When the property manager decides to sell that land, the people living in the mobile homes are at significant risk of displacement because there are few options to move a mobile home. Additionally, the residents often live on fixed incomes and the risk of slipping into homelessness is high. This program will provide a way for nonprofits to purchase the land and allow the mobile home park to continue.”
The low-interest loan program will be managed by the Community Development Corporation, which is a board made up of eight members of the community who volunteer their time and effort. Each member represents a professional discipline, including banking, accounting, law, construction, commercial development, and real estate. This decision-making body approves business and housing loans, policies and procedures, and other financial transactions.
The final 2024-2025 Biennial Budget also makes significant investments in public safety, affordable housing, homelessness and stable housing, and five other priority areas. Some highlights of the final 2024-2025 Biennial Budget include:
| Priority Area | Budget Action |
|---|---|
| Public Safety | Add a Human Resources (HR) Specialist position to support the Sheriff’s Department in recruiting new deputies and expediting the hiring process. Maintains $2.65 million of ARPA funding for Sheriff Department hiring bonuses for commissioned law enforcement officers and corrections offers. |
| Public Safety | $345,000 of ARPA funding to extend hiring bonuses to Juvenile Detention Officers to attract high-quality candidates to work with youth being held at the Remann Hall Pierce County Juvenile Detention Center. $600,000 of ARPA funds are provided to establish youth diversion programs to help prevent recidivism in youth violence and crime. |
| Homelessness and Stable Housing | $2.5 million in ARPA funding to establish a stability site outside of Tacoma for people experiencing homelessness. This site will include security, trash pick-up, hygiene facilities, and wrap-around services as a first step toward more stable and long-term housing options. |
| Homelessness and Stable Housing | $520,000 for an additional safe parking site and to support the four existing safe parking sites for another two years for those experiencing homelessness. |
| Behavioral Health Systems and Substance Use Disorder | $4.2 million from the Behavioral Health and Therapeutic Courts funding to increase behavioral health services- provided by community partners throughout the County. |
| Behavioral Health Systems and Substance Use Disorder | $210,000 for the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department’s MedsFirst Pilot Program. |
| Youth and Young Adults | Funding for young adult internship and employment programs. $1 million is provided to continue and expand youth drop-in educational and social activities to keep kids safe during out-of-school times. This is an expansion of the Council-supported Summer Teen Late Night Program from this summer, providing a safe and fun space for teens to gather and hang out during summer break. |
| Economy and Workforce | $6 million in ARPA funding to fund the Pierce County Business Accelerator and Community Navigator Programs for another two years to invest in new entrepreneurs wanting to start or grow a small business in Pierce County, with a strong focus on black, indigenous and people of color small business owners |
| Infrastructure Needs | $12.8 million in ARPA funding to continue broadband infrastructure development and partnerships in rural areas of Pierce County, including $500,000 to increase digital literacy. |
| Sustainability and Livability | $50 million in parks and trails over the next two years. These investments include the new Orangegate Park, construction of the Pipeline Trail connecting South Hill and Tacoma, new multipurpose sports fields at Sprinker Recreation Center, and much more. |
The final 2024-2025 Biennial Budget also makes investments in community restoration. It adds a Code Enforcement Officer and one Deputy Prosecuting Attorney to increase Code Enforcement Abatement work, such as solid waste-related code violations like illegal roadside dumping, which make up 45% of code enforcement complaints. The budget also establishes a Community Restoration and Cleanup Initiative.
The Community Restoration and Cleanup Initiative also includes the purchase of a $300,000 litter vacuum truck to pick up litter along county roads, a full-time maintenance worker to focus on litter clean-up.
A Community Mural Arts Program for properties in unincorporated Pierce County is also created. This is a $250,000 grant program for local artists to paint murals on walls, focusing on high graffiti areas and managed out of the Economic Development Department and Pierce County Arts Commission. The budget also includes $250,000 for neighborhood lighting projects.
“This final budget makes a lot of great investments into our community, said Councilmember and Chair of the Council’s Health & Human Services Committee, Jani Hitchen (District 6). “What I’m really excited about is the investments it makes in managing our Opioid Settlement Funds so we can have the largest impact possible. Our budget provides $600,000 to the Health Department’s Opioid Task Force. It also creates a new position to support a coordinated approach to opioid settlement funds across our jurisdictions and the creation of a data tool so we can visually see where and how those dollars are being spent.”
