Thursday, October 1, 2026
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The City of Lacey’s 2025 fiscal year budget underwent a second amendment in order to account for additional revenue and expenses.
The Lacey City Council unanimously adopted Ordinance 1683, which solidified a midyear budget revision that city government said was necessary. The council made the move at a meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 16.
The revision accounted for new revenues, donor inflows, higher-than-expected project bids and urgent utility needs.
Ordinance 1683 supersedes the 2025 fiscal year budget, which was adopted by Ordinance 1670 on Dec. 7, 2024. The spending plan was modified by Ordinance 1679 on June 20, 2025.
Section 1 of the ordinance amended the 2025 fiscal year budget by revising revenues and expenditures. Section 2 authorized corrections, while Section 3 approved the ordinance summary for publication.
Ordinance 1683 redistributed allocations within the Current Expense Fund, Community Buildings, City Street, Arterial Streets, Transportation Benefit District (TBD), Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), General Obligation Bond, Building Improvement, Capital Equipment, Parks and Open Space, Water Maintenance and Operations (M&O), Water Capital, Wastewater Capital, Stormwater Capital and Joint Animal Services funds.
City officials said the timing of the amendment was intentional.
Unlike prior years when the city’s final adjustments were made immediately before the following year’s budget adoption, this year’s amendment was scheduled in September to help guide development of the 2026 budget.
Accounting Manager and acting Financial Services Manager Chelsea Yarwood said the ordinance reflected “valuable grant funding from our local, state and federal partners” and contributions from civic organizations.
She added the new ordinance enabled procurement of “essential equipment and targeted property acquisitions.”
The ordinance also appropriated $348,393 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The largest appropriation pertained to utilities. The Water Operations Fund booked $1,341,184 for meter inventory purchases to begin replacing 12,000 units.
According to the city, thousands of meters are no longer transmitting data, requiring manual reads, while roughly 10,000 legacy devices are incompatible with newer Automated Meter Infrastructure (AMI).
The meter appropriation became one of the most examined items in the amendment. Yarwood said the $1.34 million line covered “just the cost of the meters,” with installation costs to be handled separately.
City Manager Rick Walk cautioned against expectations of a rapid deployment, projecting a 12 month to 18 month horizon, with four to six weeks of manufacturing lead times and seasonal slowdowns in winter. The schedule, he said, would depend heavily on how the project gets staffed.
Finance Director Troy Woo said, “We’re talking about 12,000 meters, so it’s going to take some time.”
Other utility changes included $133,357 for a chlorine generator at the ATEC facility after maintenance revealed “heavily worn” parts that could no longer be sourced from the manufacturer.
Contractual service costs in utility billing rose by $426,988 to cover expanded bill printing and credit card merchant service fees.
Smaller water capital adjustments, under the Water Capital Fund, included $200,000 for the Madrona connection, $20,190 for the reclaimed water plan, $18,406 for Source 29 rehabilitation, $17,239 for Source 24 rehabilitation, $16,997 for Source 07 rehabilitation, $9,627 for Golf Club water improvements, and $5,000 each for Vista Village and Southridge projects.
The Wastewater Capital Fund recorded $650,000 for the LOTT Mullen Road main, $483,921 for Marvin Road sewer work, $261,901 for Tolmie Park, $6,778 for Golf Club wastewater, $4,519 for Liftstation 19 replacement and $5,000 for Vista Village improvements.
The Stormwater Capital Fund added $5,000 for Southridge improvements.
Two major park projects advanced under Washington Recreation and Conservation Office grants and civic donations.
Rainier Vista Park was appropriated up to $500,000 in state grant funding with a city match of $419,618.
The Thurston Pickleball Club contributed $25,000 and the PARC Foundation contributed $5,000, reimbursing $30,000 of the city’s share. Planned improvements included pickleball courts, softball safety nets and outdoor tables.
William A. Bush Park received a $220,710 RCO grant with an equal city match, bringing the ages 5–12 playground replacement project to $441,420. The Gateway Rotary Club pledged $110,000, reimbursing half the city’s share.
Council Member Lenny Greenstein commended local service clubs for enhancing community infrastructure.
“How lucky we are as a community to have three Rotary Clubs and two Lions Clubs right here in Lacey who contribute just tremendously,” he said.
The Capital Equipment Fund added $210,315 to procure maintenance machinery for Greg Cuoio Park Phase 1A, including a $175,000 mower, a $22,315 all-terrain vehicle and a $13,000 trailer.
The Building Improvement Fund appropriated $600,000 for property acquisition to expand shop capacity for parks, streets, water, wastewater and stormwater functions.
The Arterial Street Fund allowed a $4,152,147 federal highway allocation for right-of-way acquisition at College Street and 16th Avenue.
The Transportation Benefit District appropriated $700,000 to accelerate paving on the College Street extension, a project originally planned for 2026 but moved forward after construction schedules advanced.
Supporting transfers included $647,500 for roadway construction and $52,500 for engineering costs.
The Woodland Creek Community Park bridge replacement allocated a contingency of nearly $60,000 after bids exceeded initial estimates. Staff redirected $15,000 from the Woodland Creek Food Forest irrigation meter to partially offset the gap.
Police accounts revealed contributions from outside sources. A digital forensic analyst position was funded through $5,697 from the Seattle Police Department and a grant from the Nisqually Tribe.
The General Fund also added $25,716 for police body-worn and fleet cameras, and training costs associated with the Basic Law Enforcement Academy.
Meanwhile, the Joint Animal Services (JAS) Fund added $80,000 for veterinary care. Staff explained the increase stemmed from emergency provider charges, higher pharmaceutical costs, animal cruelty cases and a JAS surge in intake, especially kittens and puppies.
Yarwood clarified the source of the funding.
“This is not ours,” she said. “We have to include it just because they’re in our budget process, kind of like as a fund, but it’s really their budget amendment.”
She explained it would be covered from JAS reserves. Vazquez confirmed that Lacey served as fiscal agent for the program.
The Current Expense Fund also recorded $60,000 from Thurston County to cover two years of lease costs for the Veterans Services Hub.
Another adjustment reclassified $408,580 for the Home Electrification and Appliance Rebate program from professional services to special projects, with no net change in the budget.
The General Obligation Bond Fund corrected an account code for the Limited Tax General Obligation bond principal of $395,000, with no fiscal effect.
Mayor Andy Ryder noted the unusual detail of the ordinance.
“We usually haven’t seen like the smaller budget amendments, like we’ve seen in this circumstance,” he said. “We usually, in the past, have seen those as sort of a one lump. … But it was really interesting to see in this breakdown.”
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