Who’s Raising Taxes in Whatcom County 2025

Hannah Ordos

Future 42 Whatcom County Director

LYNDEN, Wash. – As we reflecton 2024, the high cost of living and taxes have been a significant topic of discussion in our community and throughout the state.

We can anticipate slight tax increases from time to time for essential services such as public safety, roads, and education. However, we also expect our local governments to prioritize financial responsibility, accountability, and transparency. Whether they are successful in these efforts is worthy of ongoing conversation.
Here is a summary of the local outcomes regarding county and city property tax amounts, which are limited to a 1% increase each year without a vote of the people or using “banked capacity” from past years. Special acknowledgment to Ferndale and the Port for not increasing their taxes at all:

  • Whatcom County narrowly adopted its 2025-2026 $735 million biennial budget, utilizing its full banked capacity with a combined increase of over 11% for the general fund budget and road fund (paid by rural taxpayers.
  • Fund budget and road fund (paid by rural taxpayers).
  • Bellingham adopted a 2025 budget of $548 million and implemented the allowable 1% increase.
  • Ferndale adopted its 2025 budget without taking the allowable 1% increase for the third consecutive year.
  • Lynden adopted its 2025 budget, applying the allowable 1% increase and also increasing its utility tax from 2% to 4%.
  • Blaine also adopted its 2025 budget using the allowable 1% increase, in addition to raising their utility rates for the third year in a row.
  • Everson, Nooksack, and Sumas, which operate with significantly smaller budgets, took their allowable 1% increase.
  • The Port of Bellingham managed to adopt its 2025 budget without utilizing its allowable 1% increase.

Our Future 42 Whatcom team attended several meetings regarding the budget process starting in late summer. We do have local elected officials who worked hard to find solutions to minimize the impact on our community members. Some were successful, some maintained the status quo, and some would benefit from hearing more community feedback to help restrain unnecessary spending as the year progresses. We will continue to monitor this and other topics that affect us throughout the year and encourage the community to stay involved as well.