Marina Blatt reports from the Oak Harbor City Council meeting of Tue., Feb. 17, 2026 for the Whidbey News-Times. Read the whole story.
Summary by Perplexity AI
Oak Harbor Mayor Ronnie Wright has signed a letter to Gov. Bob Ferguson urging the state to leave the Public Works Assistance Account intact. The governor’s proposed budget would move funds from the account to the General Fund — the House proposes sweeping $75 million and the Senate $375 million. Over 130 cities signed the same letter. The account is one of the few sources of low-interest loans for local infrastructure projects like water, sewer, and transportation, and also provides emergency loans when critical infrastructure fails. State Sen. Ron Muzzall, R-Oak Harbor, is also opposed, arguing the state needs to cut spending rather than raiding trust funds.
They Said It
Mayor Ronnie Wright announced his support for a letter to Gov. Bob Ferguson that opposes moving funds from the Public Works Assistance Account.
A pressing issue, Wright said, is how the governor wants to take millions of dollars from a fund that helps local government build infrastructure…. “These funds are critical to cities. We utilize them for major infrastructure projects, like water, sewer and transportation. I signed onto a letter urging the governor to leave the funding intact,” Wright said.
State Sen. Ron Muzzall, R-Oak Harbor, is against redirecting money from the Public Works Assistance Account. He said state leaders are in a current budget dilemma because the majority “can’t manage money” in Olympia. So they are forced to take out from other places to fund the legislature that needs to be funded. Moving money around and not addressing the root of the issue — which he argues is overspending — is creating a negative domino effect.
“We just need to make some fundamental cuts in our state budget and not rob away from public work trust funds and other things,” he said. “We’re in trouble and we’re not facing it.”
