Birch Bay becoming a city
Birch Bay Incorporation AssociationBackers want Birch Bay, about 9,000 residents, to become a city; a County study projects the new city's general fund would run about $2 million a year short at today's tax rates. Next: a Boundary Review Board meeting, not yet scheduled.
What we get, the trade-off, what's next
What we get
A city would have its own council and manager and directly run administration, planning, permits, municipal court and legal, and parks, taking over four County parks. It would contract for police, jail, roads and animal control, most likely with Whatcom County. Fire, library, water and sewer, schools and garbage would stay with today's providers (County feasibility study, Dec. 2025).
What it costs
$1.95M Projected general fund shortfall in 2027, County study (medium growth)
At current tax levels the study projects $5.1 million in operating revenue against $7.06 million in spending in 2027, a shortfall of about $1.95 million that grows to about $2.44 million by 2032 under medium growth. Police is the largest cost, about $2.5 million in 2027 for 9 officers. About $1.8 million in park capital costs would move to the city. The city's property tax levy would replace the County road levy ($0.8772 per $1,000), and the County's criminal justice sales tax share would drop. The study does not put a dollar figure on the County's overall revenue loss.
The trade-off
If it becomes a city: The study finds every growth scenario runs short at today's tax rates, and notes options such as a 6% utility tax (over $2 million a year) are not in its base case. The incorporation association's chair wrote that the study used "the least feasible and the most expensive" scenario; the group's consultant found scenarios with fewer officers that work without a tax increase (Cascadia Daily News).
If it fails: Birch Bay stays unincorporated, and the County keeps providing law enforcement, roads and planning there (County study page).
Timeline
- Dec. 22, 2025County publishes final feasibility study update
- July 16Association tells the Boundary Review Board it plans to start incorporation
- Oct. 8Board's Birch Bay update cancelled with the Oct. 8 special meeting
- Not setBoundary Review Board meeting
- Nov. 2027Ballot backers are aiming for
How to weigh in: Boundary Review Board: wcbrb@wcog.org, 360-685-8392, or 314 E. Champion St., Bellingham. Public comment is taken at board meetings (3 minutes); no meeting is scheduled.
The question: Which assumptions, the County study's or the association's, will the board and voters use to judge whether a city can pay its way?
Feasibility study update (final) · County study page · Boundary Review Board
This page is permanent: it keeps this decision's record at one address, from first proposal to the day it takes effect, with each update dated. Every decision we follow · Coming up