Snohomish County Budget Priorities Survey

Snohomish County Budget Priorities Survey

2027-2028 Biennial Budget Conversation
Note: Survey Closes July 15, 2026
Before You Begin

If you have not participated in a live briefing, please take a few minutes to watch the recorded Community Partner Briefing below. The briefing provides an overview of Snohomish County's current fiscal outlook, the factors contributing to the projected budget challenges, and the purpose of this community engagement process.

After viewing the briefing, we invite you to complete the survey and share your perspectives on community needs, priorities, and potential impacts of future budget decisions.

This survey is not intended to ask participants to determine specific budget cuts or develop technical budget solutions. The goal is to support County Leadership's understanding of considerations and emerging themes.
Which discussion or engagement opportunity are you responding in connection with?

Other
Which Board or Commission are you a member of?
Which Community Partner Roundtable did you participate in?
Which Community Listening Session did you participate in?
Which Snohomish County Council District(s) are most connected to your work or community?(Select all that apply.)
What is your zip code?
What is your age range? (Optional)
To help us understand whose perspectives are represented in this process, how do you describe your race, ethnic, or cultural identity? (Optional; Select all that apply)

Other
Are there other identities, lived experiences, or perspectives that shape how you view County services, priorities, or community needs?
Community Priorities & Service Considerations

Snohomish County is facing a structural gap between ongoing revenues and the cost of maintaining current service levels.

While County leadership is evaluating both revenue options and spending adjustments, difficult tradeoffs will still be necessary.

We recognize that all of these service areas provide important value to residents and communities. The questions below are intended to help better understand community priorities and perspectives regarding service tradeoffs.
Health & Community Wellbeing

Examples of services potentially affected:
- Reduced support for senior centers
- Reduced funding for Family Resource Centers that help households avoid crisis situations
- Reduced emergency assistance for low-income households
- Reduced veterans support services
- Delays in restaurant permitting and food safety inspections
- Reduced disease investigation and outbreak response capacity
- Reduced support for long-term care facilities responding to disease outbreaks
If reductions became necessary in this service area, please rank the following potential impacts based on how significantly you believe they would affect the community. Drag and drop the items below to rank them from greatest impact (1) to least impact (7).
What potential community impacts or considerations should County leadership understand related to this area and listed services?
Parks, Environment & Community Spaces

Examples of services potentially affected:
- Reduced park maintenance and restroom cleaning
- Reduced trash pickup and facility upkeep
- Reduced ballfield maintenance and mowing
- Reduced hazard tree removal
- Reduced operation of spray pads and seasonal amenities
- Reduced community programming (ex: 4H, Master Gardeners, Beach Watchers, Park Naturalists, Office of Agriculture programs)
If reductions became necessary in this service area, please rank the following potential impacts based on how significantly you believe they would affect the community. Drag and drop the items below to rank them from greatest impact (1) to least impact (6).
What potential community impacts or considerations should County leadership understand related to this area and listed services?
Public Safety, Law & Justice

Examples of services potentially affected:
- Longer response times for emergency and non-emergency calls
- Reduced patrol coverage and fewer available deputies
- Delays or reduced capacity for criminal investigations
- Reduced corrections staffing and inmate support services
- Longer wait times for court proceedings and charging decisions; fewer cases forwarded to the courts
- Delays in death investigations and death certificate processing
- Potential reductions in specialized programs such as search and rescue or contracted city services
If reductions became necessary in this service area, please rank the following potential impacts based on how significantly you believe they would affect the community. Drag and drop the items below to rank them from greatest impact (1) to least impact (7).
What potential community impacts or considerations should County leadership understand related to this area and listed services?
Roads, Infrastructure & Transportation

Examples of services potentially affected:
- Decreased transportation projects (e.g. paving, corridor and intersection improvements, ADA ramps, culverts)
- Delayed road maintenance
- Deferred bridges and fish passages
- Reduced ability to provide matching funds for transportation grants ($1 local dollar returns $3 in grants)
- Reduced pothole repair
- Delayed and only reactive mowing, brush cutting and litter removal
If reductions became necessary in this service area, please rank the following potential impacts based on how significantly you believe they would affect the community. Drag and drop the items below to rank them from greatest impact (1) to least impact (6).
What potential community impacts or considerations should County leadership understand related to this area and listed services?
Planning, Permitting & Neighborhood Safety

Examples of services potentially affected:
- Reduced code enforcement and investigations
- Slower response to nuisance property complaints
- Reduced capacity to address environmental hazards
- Delays in enforcement and compliance activities
- Delayed fire inspections
If reductions became necessary in this service area, please rank the following potential impacts based on how significantly you believe they would affect the community. Drag and drop the items below to rank them from greatest impact (1) to least impact (4).
What potential community impacts or considerations should County leadership understand related to this area and listed services?
Broader Budget & Fiscal Considerations
Recognizing that County leadership must balance many factors in making budget decisions, which area(s) feel most important to sustain in order to support long-term community wellbeing and stability? (Select up to 2)
From your perspective, are there areas outlined above where alternative funding sources, partnerships, or community supports may exist?
From your perspective, are there areas outlined above where Snohomish County plays a uniquely critical role that may be difficult to replace?
As you consider the potential impacts of ongoing budget reductions to County services, how urgent do you believe it is for Snohomish County to pursue additional revenue strategies to help stabilize services and reduce future cuts?

1

2

3

4

5

1 is Not urgent, 5 is Extremely urgent
Which of the following revenue approaches do you believe warrant the greatest consideration as part of the County's broader fiscal strategy? (Select up to 3)

Other
Continued Engagement
Are there organizations, communities, stakeholder groups, or networks you believe Snohomish County should hear from as part of this budget engagement process? We recognize there is a relatively short timeframe for engagement, so we may not be able to connect with every suggested group. However, your recommendations will help inform additional outreach priorities where possible.
Please include the group name and a contact (if you have one).
Would you be open to being contacted for a possible follow-up conversation related to this engagement process?
Please provide your preferred email below:
example@example.com
Should be Empty: