Whatcom Justice Project · Tracker

Jail Project Watch

A running scorecard of Whatcom County’s jail project — the money in, the money out, the promises, and the outcomes. Updated as records arrive.

Latest figures as of September 30, 2025 (county’s Q3 financial report). Sourced below.

What this is. The county publishes updates that emphasize progress. This page keeps the running tally the county’s page doesn’t — independent, sourced, and corrected in the open. It is a companion to our investigation, The Jail Project: 13 years, two sites, and the money no one is tracking.

The money meter

The 0.2% public-safety sales tax has been collected since April 1, 2024. Here is where it stands.

$17.2M

Sales tax collected (Apr 2024 – Sep 2025, 18 months)

$15.4M

Still sitting in the fund (unspent balance)

<$1M

Actually spent on the project so far — mostly consultants & staff time (~$732K)

$7.0M

Authorized but not yet spent: $4.0M pre-construction + $3.03M wetland mitigation

Eighteen months in, the county has collected $17.2 million and spent under $1 million of it on the actual project. Notably, the Council has authorized $3.03 million for wetland mitigation — the very problem that helped drive the abandonment of the $6M LaBounty site. Revenue is also running behind the county’s own projections.

Promises vs. performance

Measured against what voters and the county were told — and, where possible, against the county’s own standard: “Is anyone better off?”

What was promised	Where it stands
A new jail, opening ~2028	Site switched to Hannegan (2026); design underway; groundbreaking targeted 2027	Watch
Capacity as first designed (844 beds, 2014)	Now 480 beds — roughly half the original plan	Reduced
Cost control	$150M (2014) → $170–200M (2026), for fewer beds	Up
A different kind of facility (treatment, services)	County reports fewer in-custody services & housing-style options, for budget	Trimmed
“Is anyone better off?” (county’s own measure)	No published outcome result yet	TBD
Full accounting of spending (vendor payments)	Our records request is overdue past the county’s own estimate; judicial review pending	Overdue

Outcomes we track independently

Beyond the county’s reporting, we track the things that show whether the system is actually getting healthier: the jail population day to day, and court outcomes — resolutions, warrants, and failure-to-appear — as our data grows. A new facility changes the building; these numbers show whether it changes the result.

Open questions & pending data

The full consultant / capital total. We’ve confirmed ~$2M to the lead architect (2013–14) and $732K in recent staff/consulting; the complete professional-services total is the subject of a public-records request the county has left overdue. See the investigation.
The $6M LaBounty parcel. Bought 2013, now being left behind. Is the county recovering it, or eating the cost?
Was the wetland problem knowable in 2013? The county now budgets $3.03M to mitigate wetlands; whether that constraint was on public maps before the 2013 purchase is a fair due-diligence question.

If any figure here is out of date or wrong, tell us and we’ll correct it in the open. That’s the point of a tracker — it stays current.

Sources & method. Money figures: Whatcom County Public Safety & Justice Facility Fund quarterly financial reports (FFAB), most recent as of September 30, 2025. Bed count, cost, and site history: county Project History, Cascadia Daily News, Whatcom Watch, Northwest Citizen (see the companion investigation for full citations). Figures are as the county reports them; expenditure detail is partial pending our records request. Aggregate reporting only; no individuals are named.