The Big Picture
What This Ordinance Is and Why It Exists
Context
Ordinance 2023-039 was adopted in November 2023 after years of analysis and community engagement, including the Vera Institute's 2017 report, the IPRTF's ongoing work, and the Stakeholder Advisory Committee process that produced the Justice Project Needs Assessment. The ordinance both authorized the ballot proposition for a 0.2% sales tax and established the governance structures (FFAB, IPRTF advisory role, biennial Implementation Plan review) that shape how the proceeds are allocated. It is the anchoring legal document for the current Justice Project, and its specific language sits at the center of current policy discussions about jail sizing, behavioral health investment, and the ILA renegotiation.
§1
Authorization of Sales and Use Tax ✓ Passed by voters
The ballot proposition, what voters were actually asked
📄 Original Language
"A ballot proposition shall be submitted to the qualified electors of Whatcom County... to authorize the County Council to fix and impose a local sales and use tax of two-tenths of one percent (0.002 or 20 cents for every $100) to provide funding for public health, safety, and justice facilities and services, including a new County jail, behavioral health, substance use disorder treatment, supportive housing, public safety, and other criminal justice facilities and services."
🗣️ Plain Language
Voters were asked to approve a 0.2% sales tax, 20 cents on every $100 spent, to fund a package that includes a new jail, behavioral health treatment, substance use disorder treatment, supportive housing, and other public health, safety, and justice purposes. All of these purposes are named in the ballot language.
What the ballot language says
The ballot proposition listed both jail construction and behavioral health / upstream services as authorized uses. The relative share of proceeds going to each is governed by the ordinance and the ILA, which are addressed in the sections below.
§3
Sales and Use Tax Purpose ⚠ Watch
What the money is for, the full scope
📄 Original Language
"The primary purpose of initial expenditures of the proceeds shall be to construct a jail and behavioral health facilities needed to promote public health and safety. Proceeds shall also support expansion of incarceration reduction programs, access to behavioral health services, re-entry services, supportive housing, diversion, and accountability measures to monitor progress and inform future planning."
🗣️ Plain Language
The ordinance identifies jail and behavioral health facility construction as the primary purpose of initial expenditures. It then lists additional named purposes: incarceration reduction programs, behavioral health services, re-entry services, supportive housing, diversion, and accountability measures. The ordinance uses "shall also support" to connect these additional purposes to the primary capital expenditures. How the two are balanced over time is addressed in the ILA and financing scenarios.
Relationship to financing
The PFM financing scenarios model different pathways for when revenue begins to flow to each purpose. In the modeled scenarios, behavioral health's share of ongoing revenue grows over time, with the 50% ILA target set for no later than 2030. See the ILA section and financing scenarios for specifics.
§4
Eligible Expenditures, Small City Exception ⚠ Note
What the Implementation Plan governs, and who it doesn't
📄 Original Language
"Cities within Whatcom County with a 2023 population less than 20,000 people may use proceeds from this sales and use tax for any public health, safety, and justice purpose, including but not limited to municipal public safety expenditures, and which use shall not be limited or restricted by the provisions and guidance of the Implementation Plan."
🗣️ Plain Language
Cities with fewer than 20,000 residents in 2023, which includes Lynden, Ferndale, Blaine, Everson, Nooksack, and Sumas, can spend their share of the sales tax on any public safety purpose, including police operations. They are not required to follow the Implementation Plan's guidance on how to spend it.
What this means practically
The Implementation Plan's guidance applies primarily to Whatcom County and Bellingham (both with populations over 20,000). Six smaller cities have discretion over how they spend their share of sales tax revenue. Upstream investment commitments across the seven-city group are therefore governed by the ILA rather than by the ordinance alone.
§5
Interjurisdictional Coordination, Five Numbered Items ⚠ Read closely
Directs the Executive to negotiate an ILA containing specific provisions, contains five numbered items
📄 Original Language
Section 5 contains five numbered items. Item 1 directs the Executive to "endeavor to develop an agreement" that: (a) acknowledges proceeds used for mutual benefit; (b) "maximizes utilization of the remainder" for upstream services; (c) acknowledges cities' request to eliminate booking restrictions, establishes an 85%/8-of-12-month expansion mechanism, and in a last resort relies on judicial booking restrictions; and (d) "allows for cost-effective bonding" by sharing the first 4–6 years of revenue to reduce bond size.
Item 2 directs inclusion of the Finance Advisory Board in the ILA. Item 3 directs IPRTF to establish Justice Project Oversight and Planning Committee (JPOP) with the detailed membership list. Items 4–5 address BIPOC representation and WREC consultation.
Item 2 directs inclusion of the Finance Advisory Board in the ILA. Item 3 directs IPRTF to establish Justice Project Oversight and Planning Committee (JPOP) with the detailed membership list. Items 4–5 address BIPOC representation and WREC consultation.
🗣️ Plain Language
Section 5 uses three key verbs that carry specific legal weight: "endeavor," "requests," and "intends." In legal drafting, these are generally treated as softer than mandatory verbs like "shall" or "must." The Executive is directed to "endeavor to develop" an ILA containing the listed commitments; the Council "requests" certain actions; and the document expresses "intent" on various points. Section 5.1(c) contains the 85% / 8-of-12-month expansion trigger, framed as a city request to be acknowledged in the ILA. Section 5.1(d) authorizes sharing of the first four-to-six years of sales tax revenue to reduce bond size, a financing mechanism that governs how capital and ongoing revenue streams are structured.
Where the specific terms are defined
The ordinance's Section 5 instructs the Executive to negotiate an ILA with specified content. The ILA itself contains the specific percentages, schedules, and funding mechanisms. The 50% upstream investment target appears in ILA Recital (d), set for no later than 2030 after capital contributions are complete. The ILA is subject to periodic renegotiation.
§7
Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Investments ⚠ Watch
The ordinance's commitment to ongoing upstream investment alongside capital construction
📄 Original Language
"Whatcom County will continue to make initial and ongoing investments, using a combination of proceeds from this sales and use tax and other local, state, and federal funds, in Justice Project Implementation Plan projects that increase access to community-based behavioral health services, substance use disorder treatment, re-entry services, supportive housing, diversion, and other incarceration reduction programs. Investments will begin in 2023 and occur concurrently with the planning and construction of a new jail facility."
🗣️ Plain Language
The ordinance commits to upstream investments occurring "concurrently" with jail construction, that is, at the same time, rather than only after construction. However, the section uses the verbs "will continue" and "intends" rather than specifying a fixed share or schedule. The specific percentages and timing are addressed in the ILA and in PFM's financing scenarios.
The specific terms in the ILA
ILA Recital (d) states: "Applying a minimum of 50% of the ongoing Sales Tax revenue to other implementation priorities and goals to be accomplished starting no later than 2030, after the County and Cities have contributed to the up-front capital allocation as outlined in section 3t." This places the 50% target on ongoing (non-capital) sales tax revenue, with an effective date of no later than 2030. The PFM financing scenarios model how this ramps up over time: in the early years, a larger share flows to debt service and capital contributions; ongoing behavioral health funding grows as capital obligations are satisfied.
§8
Subsequent Implementation Plans, Biennial Updates → Active
How the plan gets updated and who controls it
📄 Original Language
"No less than every two years, the Whatcom County Executive shall coordinate with the IPRTF/LJC and Finance Advisory Board to update the Implementation Plan with a detailed Spending Plan for the public health, safety, and justice tax... No less than every five years, the Whatcom County Executive shall coordinate with the IPRTF/LJC and Finance Advisory Board to update the Justice Project Implementation Plan based on an analysis of data collected, measurements for outcomes and efficacy."
🗣️ Plain Language
The ordinance requires two distinct update cycles. Every two years, the Implementation Plan must be updated with a specific spending plan for the sales tax. Every five years, the full Implementation Plan must be reviewed and updated based on outcome data. Both processes are led by the Executive in coordination with the IPRTF/LJC and the Finance Advisory Board.
How the update process works
The biennial and five-year update cycles are the formal mechanism by which Implementation Plan priorities, spending, and outcomes are reviewed and adjusted over time. Both processes require formal coordination between the Executive, the IPRTF/LJC, and the FFAB, giving each body a defined role in how the plan evolves.
§9
Initial Sizing, Future Expansion, and Independent Audit → Active
How the facility is sized initially, when expansion can be considered, and the audit requirement
📄 Original Language
ILA Recital (c) commits the Parties to: "Develop and construct an appropriately sized Justice Facility and Behavioral Health Treatment Center based on a fair analysis of jail use, bookings, and population growth, while taking into consideration strategic investments to avoid unnecessary incarceration."
Ordinance Section 9.4 addresses expansion of a built facility: expansion requires examination of diversion program success, population growth, and community engagement before proceeding. The trigger mechanism referenced in Section 5.1(c) is 85% of operational capacity for 8 of any 12 consecutive months. A 10-year independent audit of the tax and Implementation Plan is also required.
Ordinance Section 9.4 addresses expansion of a built facility: expansion requires examination of diversion program success, population growth, and community engagement before proceeding. The trigger mechanism referenced in Section 5.1(c) is 85% of operational capacity for 8 of any 12 consecutive months. A 10-year independent audit of the tax and Implementation Plan is also required.
🗣️ Plain Language
Two distinct questions are addressed here. Initial sizing is governed by ILA Recital (c): the facility must be sized based on a "fair analysis" that accounts for both standard drivers (jail use, bookings, population growth) and "strategic investments to avoid unnecessary incarceration." Future expansion of an already-built facility is governed by Section 9.4 and the 85%/8-of-12 trigger, this applies after the facility is operating, not during initial sizing. A 10-year audit requirement provides an external review mechanism.
The initial-sizing question
The current planning cycle is an initial-sizing exercise under ILA Recital (c). What constitutes a "fair analysis" and how "strategic investments to avoid unnecessary incarceration" are weighed in that analysis are live questions in the April 2026 decision cycle. The Pasquo Planners forecast and the STV / EP&A Behavioral Health Analysis are the principal analytical inputs; the Prosecutorial Diversion Addendum (Attachment B) is identified in the BCC report as analysis still in progress at the time of that report's release.
The Implementation Plan
The 15 Projects Voters Approved Funding For
What the Implementation Plan Is
The Implementation Plan (Exhibit A to the ordinance) contains 15 specific projects organized into five strategies. Each project has a need statement, recommendations, and desired outcomes. Together, these projects constitute the Plan that the biennial update process reviews and that the sales tax revenue is directed toward.
Strategy I · Oversight & Accountability
Project 1: Establish JPOP Committee
Justice Project Oversight and Planning Committee, broad community membership required including formerly incarcerated individuals and tribal representatives.
→ Established
Strategy I · Oversight & Accountability
Project 2: Establish Finance Advisory Board (FFAB)
The ordinance directs creation of the Finance Advisory Board through Project 2 of the Implementation Plan. The ILA then formally constitutes it: "The Parties agree to form the County and Cities Justice Facility and Behavioral Health Treatment Center Finance and Facility Advisory Board." Both documents are required to fully establish its authority.
→ Established (ordinance + ILA)
Strategy I · Oversight & Accountability
Project 3: Data collection and public dashboard
Hire Criminal Justice Informatics Specialist and Application Administrator. Collect data to measure progress. Develop a public-facing data dashboard.
⚠ In progress
Strategy II · Behavioral Health Access
Project 4: Address behavioral health workforce shortages
Recruitment, retention, fair pay. Ensure inclusive, well-trained workforce for intensive case management, MH/SUD treatment, housing, and re-entry support.
⚠ Ongoing
Strategy II · Behavioral Health Access
Project 5: Build coordination systems between organizations
Systems for communication and coordination between organizations for a seamless continuum of care. Includes Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD), Ground-Level Response and Coordinated Engagement (GRACE), and crisis response coordination.
→ Active
Strategy II · Behavioral Health Access
Project 6: Increase diversion program capacity
LEAD, GRACE, Mental Health Court, Drug Court. Provide staff support and increase capacity of programs that divert people from incarceration.
→ Active
Strategy III · Facilities
Project 7: Build 23-hour Crisis Relief Center
Behavioral Health Urgent Care open 24/7. Up to 23h59m stays. Accept all walk-ins, drop-offs from first responders, 988 referrals without medical clearance. State funding secured.
✓ Funded/Building
Strategy III · Facilities
Project 8: Build new jail and behavioral health treatment center
Secure detention with rehabilitation services and diversion options. Co-located behavioral health treatment center as alternative to incarceration. LaBounty Drive site, Ferndale.
→ In planning phase
Strategy III · Facilities
Project 9: Identify additional behavioral health facilities needed
Bring lived experience and experts together to design solutions. Includes the Co-Occurring Disorders facility at 2000 Division, currently under analysis via STV/EP&A report.
⚠ Analysis underway
Strategy IV · Reduce Re-incarceration
Project 10: Transportation from detention/treatment to safe destination
Ensure people leaving jail or treatment have a safe place to go and transportation to get there. Reduce relapse and re-incarceration from housing instability at release.
⚠ Ongoing
Strategy IV · Reduce Re-incarceration
Project 11: Bolster re-entry support services
Re-entry specialists, case management, peer support, housing, employment, and healthcare coordination. Establish coordinated re-entry support locations.
→ Active
Strategy IV · Reduce Re-incarceration
Project 12: Expand supportive housing for people with behavioral health history
Additional housing facilities with on-site clinical support. Small recovery/supportive housing capital projects. Outreach to Nooksack Tribe and Lummi Nation.
⚠ Ongoing
Strategy V · System Changes
Project 13: Court system changes for timely resolution
Promote timely resolution of court cases. Reduce number of people held pretrial and length of time held. Public defender and prosecutor resources are part of this.
⚠ Ongoing
Strategy V · System Changes
Projects 14–15: State advocacy and Medicaid waiver
Advocate for state funding and policy for supportive housing, diversion, and behavioral health. Advocate for Medicaid waiver for jail-based health services.
→ Active advocacy
Legal Language Analysis
The Words That Determine What Was Actually Promised
Live Policy Questions
What Is Currently Being Decided Under This Ordinance
The April 28, 2026 Council Decision
The County Council is scheduled to provide direction on a budget cap and project values for the Justice Facility and Behavioral Care Center. The FFAB unanimously recommended $225 million ($205M jail + $20M BCC) at its April 9 meeting. The Pasquo Planners forecast projects a 2030 primary bed need of 422, rising to 604 by 2050 (assuming 25-day ALOS and 20.5 bookings/day). The EP&A Behavioral Health Analysis has provided service-model recommendations for the BCC; its Prosecutorial Diversion Addendum is identified as analysis still in progress at the time of the April 14 integrated presentation. How the Council weighs these inputs against ILA Recital (c)'s "fair analysis" requirement is a live question.
The ILA Renegotiation
The Interlocal Agreement is subject to periodic renegotiation. The specific terms defining how ongoing sales tax revenue is allocated between capital contributions and upstream investment, including the 50% target set for no later than 2030 under Recital (d), are defined in the ILA rather than in the ordinance itself. The ordinance's Section 8 biennial and five-year update cycles provide formal review checkpoints; the IPRTF/LJC and FFAB have defined roles in both processes.