Libby Williams interviewed Island County Director of Budget and Risk Management Susan Geiger for the Stanwood Camano News. Read the whole story.
For the past several months, Island County officials have been hard at work on the 2026 budget.
Director of Budget and Risk Management Susan Geiger explained the process in an interview with SC News, saying that the county uses a software platform to help develop its budget.
“Once we have those numbers and the budget office puts together a proposed budget for the commissioners in the form of a workbook, they can go through department by department,” she said.
The Board of Island County Commissioners holds regular budget workshop meetings in person and via Zoom, if viewers request a link ahead of time.
These meetings often go on for several hours, as the commissioners dive deep into each department and how they want the next year to look.
Next, commissioners will look at requests for any additional funding going into next year.
Now that work with departments is done, future workshops will focus on getting all the numbers to match up.
Originally, the budget was going to be adopted in October, but that has been pushed to December to allow more time for deliberation.
They Said It
“This year, there really isn’t much funding available,” Geiger said, explaining that this year’s budget is called a “status quo” budget, meaning they try to maintain the programs they already have.
In her four years working this position, Geiger said this year stands out in terms of stress on the budget.
She said she believes there’s been some trickle-down effects from federal funding cuts, especially in the public health sector, where the expenditure tends to grow faster than the revenue.
She said the county typically doesn’t get people attending the work sessions, but that citizens should be more involved.
“I think it’s very important … because we are spending the taxpayers’ money,” Geiger said.
“We’re trusted to spend the taxpayers’ money, and when the citizens are informed, when they know where the money is going, then they know what their investment is being used for.”
