What will Whatcom County see out of the state’s new $4.9 billion capital budget?
State legislators on Sunday approved the two-year $4.9 billion capital budget that focuses on projects in areas of behavioral health, affordable housing, education and the environment.
“The bipartisan support of this budget highlights the investments it makes on behalf of all Washingtonians,” said Sen. David Frockt, the Seattle Democrat who is vice chair of the Senate Ways & Means Committee and the Senate’s lead capital budget writer.
The capital budget, commonly referred to as the bricks-and-mortar budget, includes $120 million in community-based behavioral health projects to help patients transition to care in their own communities. It also sets aside $33.2 million for predesign, planning and design of a new, 150-bed behavioral health teaching facility at the University of Washington Medical Center.
“This construction budget puts people first by putting a record amount of funding to build public schools, colleges and universities,” said Rep. Steve Tharinger, the Port Townsend Democrat who is chairman of the House Capital Budget Committee.
The budget includes $175 million in affordable housing loans and grants through the Housing Trust Fund.
Allocations include:
▪ $35 million for supportive housing and case management services for people living with behavioral health disorders.
▪ $10 million for high-quality modular housing to transition people out of homelessness quickly.
▪ $10 million for competitively awarded grants for state matches on private contributions to fund affordable housing.
The capital budget calls for spending about $148.4 million on toxics cleanup, prevention and stormwater assistance to local governments.
Other spending on environmental projects would prevent wildfires and help the orca population. Forest hazard reduction would receive $14.2 million.
The budget includes about $1.1 billion on K-12 education, with about $1.04 billion dedicated to the School Construction Assistance Program.
The budget also includes $927 million to construct facilities at public colleges and universities, which is also a record.
“We’re creating jobs in every corner of Washington state because we listened to, and worked with, lawmakers from every part of the state,” Tharinger said.
The following are some of the major projects in the capital budget for Whatcom County:
State Department of Commerce
▪ $3 million for Unity Care Northwest.
▪ $2 million for the Birch Bay Vogt Community Library.
▪ $1.7 million for the Howard Bowen Event Complex in Sumas.
▪ $500,000 to East Blaine infrastructure in Blaine.
▪ $288,000 to Sumas playground and water park.
▪ $258,000 to Fishtrap Creek habitat improvement in Lynden.
▪ $232,000 to Northwest Indian College.
▪ $118,000 to Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center.
State Public Works Board
▪ $1 million for the Ferndale waste water treatment plant.
State Recreation and Conservation Funding Board
▪ $10.6 million for Middle Fork Nooksack diversion dam removal.
▪ $864,000 for Skookum Creek acquisition.
▪ $750,000 for Squalicum waterway maintenance dredging in Bellingham.
▪ $458,000 for California Creek estuary park development.
▪ $350,000 for Squalicum Creek Park phase four.
▪ $350,000 for Lummi Nation Community Park.
▪ $299,000 for California Creek estuary park acquisition.
▪ $175,000 for McLeod agricultural conservation easement.
▪ $100,000 for Roper agricultural conservation easement.
▪ $75,000 for TeVelde agricultural conservation easement.
Western Washington University
▪ $60 million to construct a new interdisciplinary science building to address classroom and lab space limitations. The new facility will consist of teaching labs, wet research labs and active learning spaces in biology, chemistry and several other Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) degree programs.
▪ $3.6 million to conduct routine and preventive maintenance activities and maximize the life of building systems.
▪ $3 million to renovate and re-purpose classrooms and labs throughout the campus.
▪ $2 million for design work on a new building for the WWU Computer Science and Electrical Engineering departments. The new building will consist primarily of teaching labs, research labs and classrooms.
This story was originally published May 1, 2019 at 5:00 AM.