Bellingham: Community Conditions & Justice Data

Why racial disparities in hardship are structural, a brief background The higher ALICE rates among Black and Hispanic/Latino households are not random. They are the documented, cumulative result of policies and practices that systematically limited access to wealth-building, stable housing, and economic opportunity across generations: redlining and exclusionary zoning that blocked homeownership; wage discrimination in hiring; under-resourced schools in segregated neighborhoods; and immigration and labor policies that left agricultural and service workers without basic protections. These are historical facts, not moral judgments about any community. The communities most affected by these policies are also often the communities with the deepest roots, the strongest networks of mutual support, and the most direct knowledge of what their families need. This data tells us where structural barriers remain highest, and where targeted investment can have the greatest impact.

A note on school data We're showing Bellingham school district data here as a worked example, tracing the pipeline in the city with the highest share of county jail bookings by arrest origin. School data for Ferndale, Lynden, Blaine, Lummi, and the smaller districts are included on the City Snapshots pages.

Why this comparison is appropriate The City of Bellingham, along with Blaine, Everson, Ferndale, Lynden, Nooksack, and Sumas, is a signatory to the Interlocal Agreement on the Public Health, Safety and Justice Facility Financing. Parties to this Interlocal Agreement have contractual obligations regarding jail use, bear the costs of law enforcement that generates bookings, and are jointly committed to both the capital costs of the new justice facility and the upstream investment commitments in Ordinance 2023-039. School districts are not parties to the Interlocal Agreement, do not book people into the jail, and are not parties to the capital decision. This analysis covers the fiscal responsibilities of ILA signatory parties. School districts are not party to the ILA and are not included in the budget comparison.

How to read this data, and what we might have gotten wrong Municipal budget documents are structured differently across jurisdictions, and even within a single city, whether a figure is "all funds" or "general fund only" changes the number dramatically. The Bellingham Planning Department, for example, has an all-funds budget of $31.5M, but that includes federal HUD grants and county housing levy pass-throughs that the city does not control. The general fund appropriation is $4.3M. Both are real numbers. They tell different stories. We have tried to use the most comparable figures available and to note where numbers may mislead. We welcome corrections. If you have additional budget information, a better read on a line item, or knowledge of grant funding not captured here, we want to know. This is a baseline, not a verdict.

What the Interlocal Agreement commits to In 2023, Whatcom County voters approved a 0.2% public safety sales tax. The revenue is governed by the Interlocal Agreement on the Public Health, Safety and Justice Facility Financing, a legally binding agreement between Whatcom County and the seven signatory cities. The agreement funds both the new justice facility (capital and operations) and upstream behavioral health and diversion programs. Critically, the Interlocal Agreement contains a commitment that no less than 50% of ongoing revenue will flow to upstream behavioral health and diversion programs once capital contributions are complete, no later than 2030. This 50% floor is described in the ILA as applying to ongoing (non-capital) revenue starting no later than 2030. The ILA is subject to periodic renegotiation; the outcome will determine the specific financial terms going forward.

City contributions to the Interlocal Agreement, 2024 actuals Bellingham represents 20.6% of total city contributions and 68% of the combined city share. The county-collected sales tax ($4.51M in 2024) is the primary revenue source, city contributions supplement it. The assumed 5.0% annual growth rate used in all Interlocal Agreement financing models was not met in 2024; actual growth was negative. This creates compounding fiscal pressure over the bond period and puts additional strain on the upstream investment floor.

Party	2024 Contribution	% of City Total	2025 Bookings Generated
Bellingham	$1,316,667	68.3%	2,070
Lynden	$226,670	11.8%	152
Ferndale	$158,189	8.2%	221
Blaine	$86,579	4.5%	126
Everson	$35,405	1.8%	44
Sumas	$24,835	1.3%	28
Nooksack	$17,629	0.9%	9
County sales tax	$4,512,867	-	-

Why we're showing more detail on Bellingham and Whatcom County We provide more detailed budget breakdowns for Bellingham and Whatcom County than for the other Interlocal Agreement parties because they are, by significant margins, the two largest parties to the agreement, Bellingham is the arrest origin for approximately 44% of county jail bookings, and Whatcom County operates the jail, the Sheriff's Office, the courts, the Prosecuting Attorney's Office, and the Public Defender's Office. Together, these two governments account for the majority of both justice system utilization and justice system cost. The smaller cities generate bookings but do not operate criminal justice infrastructure. Understanding where county tax dollars flow is relevant context for the Interlocal Agreement renegotiation.

Reading the county numbers honestly Several important cautions apply. First, the Behavioral Health Program Fund has its own dedicated county sales tax (~$7.2M of its $13.75M budget) plus state and federal intergovernmental revenue (~$3.7M), it is not primarily a pass-through fund, though federal and state dollars are a real component. The Homeless Housing Fund is different: its revenue is primarily intergovernmental ($3.3M of $4.5M in 2026), meaning the county administers and directs federal and state housing dollars but does not independently fund this work at scale. Second, the Jail Fund and the Sheriff's Corrections Bureau budget largely represent the same dollars reported in two places, do not add them together. Third, the Healthy Children Fund has its own dedicated county property tax (~$10M annually, sunsets 2033) and is counted here as a significant upstream investment by county taxpayers. Fourth, GRACE, ART, and LEAD predate the Interlocal Agreement and are funded through the county Behavioral Health Fund, grants, and city contributions, the City of Bellingham hosts four of five GRACE case managers at BPD and Bellingham Fire. These programs are named in the Implementation Plan as Interlocal Agreement–eligible specifically to ensure that if any outside funding fluctuates, the public safety sales tax can backstop continuity, protecting programs that are already working, regardless of what happens to grants or state funding. That was the point: to build a more stable, community-controlled system. The contrast between the justice system total (~$113M across Sheriff, Jail Fund, courts, prosecution, and defense) and the upstream investment total (Healthy Children Fund + Behavioral Health Fund + HCS programs ≈ $46M) is real, and it is what the Interlocal Agreement's upstream floor is designed to rebalance over time.