Community Budget Forum - Regular Meeting

The Snohomish County Council Finance, Budget, and Administration Committee is called to order. Today is Tuesday, July 14, 2026 at 10 a.m. We're meeting in the Jackson Boardroom and also remotely. I'll read the script for public comment and then our clerk will take roll. We'll take public comment beginning in person and then remotely. In Zoom, click on the hand icon to raise your hand. If you're calling in by phone, press star nine to raise your hand and star six to unmute. Each speaker will have three minutes to speak and please start your comment with your name and city of residence. Next is roll call.

Committee Chair Dunn. Here. Committee Vice Chair Nehring.

Here.

Committee Member Lowe.

Present.

Committee Member Mead.

Here. Here.

Committee Member Peterson.

Here.

Here.

Chair, we have five members present. Thank you. Next is public comment. Did anyone wish to provide public comment this morning? Can you use the podium in the middle? Nope. Do we have any hands raised? No hands raised. Okay. So we'll close public comment and move on. We have one action item today. It's motion 26-259. Thank you.

Good morning, Council Members. For the record, Jim Martin, Council Staff. Motion 26-259 approves the 2026 Tourism Promotion Area Agreement between Snohomish County and Courtyard Media Foundation for the production of Geek Fest Expo 2026. The agreement is for a not-to-exceed amount of $80,000 and a term in December 31, 2026. The requested action is to move to GLS on July 22 for consideration.

Thank you. Any questions from council? Is there any objection to consent? Hearing and seeing none, this will move to the consent agenda for the 22nd. That concludes our action items and then we have discussion items, so we have our annual report from our public facilities district so welcome come on up you guys can sit and use your microphone make sure you're push the button until it's green and there's a few. written reports, along with this included in the agenda. who wanted to start us off.

I don't mind doing it. Hi, Corey Margolis here representing the Everett Public Facilities District. Appreciate the opportunity to present to you all this morning and thank you in advance for all the support you show to all of our PFDs, including Everett. I'd like to share some highlights from another exceptional year at Angel of the Winds Arena and the Everett Public Facilities District. 2025 was one of the strongest years in the facility's history, driven by outstanding event performance, strong community engagement, and continued financial progress. From a financial perspective, the facility generated an operating income of approximately $1.5 million, outperforming budget expectations by more than $1.7 million and nearly doubling the operating gain achieved in 2024. Combined with district revenues, the organization experienced a $4.5 million increase in assets before depreciation, highlighting sustained financial strength and responsible management. A key factor behind this success was record-breaking event performance. Event income increased another 8% over 2024, making 2025 the strongest event income year in our history. And since 2022, event income has grown by 94%. The Everett Silvertips remained a major driver of attendance and community pride. The team finished first in the Western Hockey League in both the 24-25 season and the 20-25-26 season, and then ultimately, of course, won the WHL Championship this year. I know the council gave great recognition to that, and we appreciate that on the Silvertips' behalf. Attendance exceeded 164,000 people in the calendar year 25 for the Silver Tips, averaging over 6,500 people a game. Beyond hockey, the arena hosted an outstanding lineup of entertainment. The PBR event drew more than 11,500 attendees, while singer Zhu Xian delivered the highest-grossing single event day in arena history, selling on and under 15 minutes. The venue also welcomed major comedy acts and nationally recognized country music performers. Community impact remained a priority throughout the year. The community ice rink welcomed more than 190,000 visitors, and our Learn to Skate and youth hockey participation grew significantly. Programs such as the Learn to Skate, as well as a new program, Community Access Skate Night, in partnership with Community Transit, expanded recreational access for local families. The district also continued investing into the facility's future. More than $1.5 million was spent on capital improvements, including technology upgrades, security enhancements, a new electric Zamboni, improvements to the public address system, and HVAC modernization projects. Finally, the arena's regional impact continued to grow, reaching more than 800,000 visits in 2025, which is a 12% increase over the prior year, generating $95 million in economic impact. Related to debt service, the district made a $2.5 million payment towards its deficiency loan with the City of Everett, as we've been able to make some progress on that liability over the last two years, given the strong results of the facility. 2025 was a landmark year, marked by a record of end income, strong financial performance, growing community participation, significant facility investments, and continued debt reduction, which always remains our priority. Thank you again to Snohomish County and its council members for your essential support. Are there any questions?

Thank you. Questions? Nope, we're online? Okay.

Thanks.

Next. Thank you.

Okay. Hello, Janet Pope, Executive Director from Linwood Public Facilities District, and we celebrated our 20th anniversary last year, and that was a big public fanfare that we had. Our attendance levels continue to go up, an increase of 4.6% in 2024. which also increased our economic impact, which is up to $12 million. Again, we measure that just with the direct impact, not the indirect impact. Some of this is our free or reduced-cost public events continue to grow. Super excited for the Linwood Luau was reaching 3,500 last year, and we're really starting to draw the overnight stays from the 50-mile-away um and we hope you guys will all come to that and help judge our hawaiian shirt contest we'll send it out invades to that pretty quickly um and recently we just started our summer concert series of three concerts uh our next one coming up is your 90s and early 2000s night and the tenants started out with a bang with that starting also a market with that so bringing a farmer's market to linwood um The financial position was strong we increased about 1.616 million or 11.4% from 2024 to be clear, that is largely the district income, the event Center is still running a little bit underwater. Some of that was due to our sales staff had some turnover so our sales were a little sluggish early in the year, but took off towards the end of the year, and the first quarter of this year was our strongest quarter since 2017. revenue from our commercial property tenants continues to keep us going, and that was an increase as well, despite the dilapidated buildings that are going down. Really excited about what's going on with our partnerships in South County between the city and the hoteliers. We're really driving a destination now, doing joint marketing, joint social media, all those kind of things, and it's really starting to have an impact Hoteliers are so supportive of what's going on with us. Biggest change recently, July 1st, we've been working with Oakview Group as our operator and to try to make better efficiencies and things as we move forward with the master plan. We ended that contract and we've now gone from 11 employees to 65 employees. So that was a huge leap in a very quick period of time. We have contracted locally with Columbia Hospitality as just helping as an advisory role while we continue to move forward to Stapp, Learning how to how to fly this on our own here master plan had a huge year we completed our development agreement with the city of language enshrined all our permitting for the project, all the sound transportation parking all those things has been done. Stapp, We also received a $1 million grant from the state to move forward with our schematic design. and a $15 million loan from the Snohomish County Treasurer's Office with Brian Sullivan through the Community Investment Program, which is a very, very exciting tool that Snohomish County has. And we used that to pay off a little bit of debt and then also to move forward with the schematic design. So that's the plan moving forward. By the end of the year, we should have our schematic design finalized, and then we move forward to bonding by the end of this year and construction in 2028. And that's Linwood. Any questions? Questions? Council Member Lowe?

Thank you for your presentation. I noticed that the revenues were down 21% from budgeted. Do you expect to be down again this year, or do you think you'll catch up here in 2026?

I think we're going to catch up. We had a really, really strong first quarter, and then, again, with some of the transition to operating, it was down second quarter, but it looks like the third and fourth quarter are going to be okay.

So, yeah. And then the other question I had is I think I read something where you were transitioning and you were going to pick up a bunch of new FTEs. Was that yours? Yes.

So we've gone from 11. When I started in 2020, the district, the PFD itself, had two employees. We've grown to 11 to help with the master plan focus. And now taking on all the event center employees, we are at 65.

Thank you.

Yeah. Council Member Neering?

Thanks, sir. No questions, but just wanted to thank you for meeting individually with us to walk us through the master plan. I think that's really exciting and lots of lots of cool stuff that are going to be happening there. You bet.

It's starting to be real.

Yep.

Okay. Any other questions? Okay. Thank you so much.

Good morning, chair and council members. And thank you for your continued support of the future of flight public facilities district. I'm Haley Walker, the airport business manager, and I'm here with Emily Phillippe, deputy director at Payne Field. I'll give a quick update on the regional center's financials before handing things off over to Boeing. As a quick reminder, the future of flight operates a little bit differently than most public facilities districts. Snohomish County manages this public facilities district directly, which is why it's designated a public facilities district regional center. Your support of this structure really matters because it lets the county keep clear oversight while Boeing as a facility leasee handles all the public-facing programs like the factory tours, exhibits, retail, and events under their own separate operating budget. On the county side, the airport manages the regional center budget, PFD sales tax revenues, lease contributions, and debt service. We appreciate your continued support because it helps keep this partnership running smoothly. and makes it easy for us to manage the financial responsibilities tied to the facility. Turning to the 2025 financials for the regional center, PFD County sales tax came in at $1,065,021. Total non-operating revenue was $2,040,680, which includes lease contributions, sales tax support, and interest in other activity. After depreciation, the change in net assets was $1,045,000. $445,411, and the remaining principal balance on the PFD-related bonds is $11,891,852. Lease revenues cover the annual debt service, and when there's a surplus, it supports the airport enterprise budget, and your support helps keep all of this predictable and transparent, which we really do appreciate. As the future of flight reaches its 20-year mark, this partnership continues to bring visitors, visibility, and economic benefit to the county, and the council's support is a big part of why this model works and why the facility continues to serve the community very well. So with all that, I'll hand things over to Christy Medlin with Boeing.

Thank you, Haley, and good morning. I'm very happy to say on behalf of Boeing Future of Flight that we hosted about 163,000 visitors last year. That represented a 15 percent increase from the previous year. Of course, largely driven by demand and interest in the Boeing factory tour. We hosted over 4,700 tours to the site. And with that increased demand, we were able to support moving to seven-day operations as of July of last year. And of course, we continue that this year. In terms of major investments, we did open up about 5,000 additional square feet in our exhibit space with two new exhibits, one being Boeing Engineering Zone, which is very family-friendly and focuses on STEM-related interactive experiences. And then we also offer Boeing Aerospace Adventure, And that tells the story of a lot of our different Boeing business units and the careers and people that support them. And the culmination of that experience allows people to enjoy some flight simulators with our F-15 and 787. So that has been hugely popular. No additional costs to participate in those things. So great value add to the experience. We did host 78 private events, including an After Hours on the Sky Deck in partnership with the Mukilteo Chamber of Commerce. In addition, we have a wonderful new partner with food and beverage support with our Paper Plane Cafe. And so this new operating partner started up in May, and we've had nothing but rave reviews about the service and amenities that the new cafe offers. which has been a great transition. In addition, we have a new person on our team supporting marketing and communications. And so hopefully you've seen a little bit more of media attention to Boeing Futura Flight. And so last year and this year, that should help support us achieve our goal of this year of 200,000 visitors. So we're marching our way towards that. Just looking ahead, you probably also saw news about the 737 line opening at the Everett site. And so we're looking forward to hosting visitors to be able to see that production firsthand, the first time the public will be able to view that coming up in the new year. We had a nice little boost from FIFA, about a 10% increase to international tourism over the past month. So we were excited about that, too. Let me know if there are any questions. Thank you. Questions? Council Member Lowe?

Thank you. It's a great public-private partnership with Boeing, and I got to do a factory tour about two months ago, and it was great. I think going from five to seven days is going to be awesome. It's a a tremendous selling point. When I go across the country and I talk to different people, they all ask about Boeing and I always tell them, hey, come on out, see the future of flight, do a tour. And so it's a huge asset that we have for Mukotillo, for Everett, and for all of Stonemish County. So it's good to hear. I was going to ask the question about how many you expected this year, but you answered that for me. So thank you and keep up the good work. It's good to see those numbers increasing. think at one time we had about 350 000 back in the day and so you know obviously because of covid and the shutdown everything you guys are starting to ramp that up so that's that's great to see thank you we're here to make you proud any other questions okay uh edmunds

Good morning.

So I'm Caitlin Pontrella. I'm the current interim executive director with Edmund Center for the Arts, and I'm joined by Wayne Grothier, who is our board president. I just want to start by thanking you for your continued support of Edmund Center for the Arts. 2025 was a great year for the organization. We served over 80,000 attendees through about 150 shows. Some were presented season, where our shows that we go out and book, musicians, comedy, improv, educational activities for seniors, youth, and adults. And also a good chunk of that also is our rentals where, you know, organizations and community groups come to us and use our stage. Overall in 2025, our operating revenues are up. We brought in about 3.2 million, which is a small improvement over the year prior and something that we continue to see growing in this upcoming year with rentals and concessions continuing again to have interest and good performance for us. I'll also flag that our costs decreased by about 4 percent over 2024, and the organization came in about 11 percent under budget. I believe the financials you have are incorrect. We had just recently updated our financials. We've been working with a new financial firm, so we'll have to supply corrected financials because, overall, the organization ended up with a total surplus of $432,000 after we factored in our tax revenue. This year also was a good step meaningfully for the organization to close its operating gap between its operating costs and expenses to run the theater. From 2024, we ran a deficit of just about $700,000. And in 2025, improved on that about by $300,000, expensing only about $406,000. So overall, it's been, I think, a good progress. And then as we go into 2026, the plan is to continue to try to address our operating deficit and get to a position where as we look to the future of the campus and some of the needs long-term, we're in a better position to address the building. And I'll hand over to Wayne to talk a little bit about what's happening this year.

Thank you, Caitlin, and thank you, Council, for your continued support of Edmonds Center for the Arts. So, ECA is entering a new phase in 2026 focused on strengthening operations, leadership, and long-term sustainability. During the past year, we've experienced leadership transitions, including changes in our executive director and associate executive director roles. Caitlin Pontrella, our interim executive director, has provided guidance during this transition. We're using this as an opportunity to realign our organizational structure, strengthen our financial systems, and expand our capacity to serve the community. In the latter regard, capacity to serve the community, we'll be starting a public process this summer to evaluate bringing on another partner or partners onto our campus. And finally, we're in the process of hiring an executive search firm to help us find a long-term executive director. which we hope to have identified by the end of the year. And with that, we'd be glad to answer any questions.

Questions for Edmonds. Council Member Lowe.

I think my question is more for staff. Can we make sure we get the updated financials, get that to council, and if we can work with the clerks to make sure we can do an addendum to this agenda so that the public will be able to see those updated financials, that would be great. My question is, how soon would we be able to get those financials?

Today. Okay.

yeah no i didn't realize we noticed that we think there was a mapping error into the excel so we both were checking it this morning we're like this is not right great thank you so much any other questions or questions online okay well it looks like for 2025 total number of visits was 716 000 so hopefully this year with fifa we make a million for 2026 for visitors to the county so Appreciate your work. Thank you so much. If there's no other questions, that concludes our agenda and council's in recess until our 11 o'clock committee hearing meeting. Thank you.