Mayor signs letter opposed to defunding public works account
Published 1:30 am Tuesday, February 24, 2026
At a city council meeting last week, 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. This weekend, the House and Senate each released their proposed supplemental operating budgets — the former suggests sweeping $75 million and the latter recommends sweeping $375 million from the Public Works Assistance Account to the General Fund.
“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.
Over 130 cities signed on to the same letter, Oak Harbor Communications Officer Magi Aguilar noted.
According to Aguilar, the Public Works Assistance Account is one of the only sources of low interest loans and financially guaranteed funding Oak Harbor can utilize to plan for and replace failing and aging infrastructure. This infrastructure includes water and wastewater lines. The Public Works Assistance Account also provides emergency loans when critical infrastructure fails and threatens public health and safety, she added. The city does not have a public works grant or loan and has no plans to apply for one as of now, Aguilar 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.”
