MUKILTEO—Current Mukilteo Councilman and Mayoral candidate, Steve Schmalz held his campaign kickoff event Tuesday, July 15, at the Mukilteo Lighthouse Park. Approximately 45 people attended the kickoff event to enjoy a BBQ and show their support. Schmalz told the Lynnwood Times, he plans to “hit the ground running,” and start door-knocking for his campaign.
Schmalz has served the residents of Mukilteo, as Councilman, for 12-years championing for public safety, fiscal responsibility, and community development. He told the Lynnwood Times his decision to run for Mukilteo Mayor stemmed from the city being in a $4.6 million deficit and current Mayor, Joe Marine’s, “irresponsible” leadership.
“What I’ve seen with the irresponsible financial management by this Mayor, I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Schmalz. “The 2025-2026 Budget is the most irresponsible document I’ve ever seen the city produce.”
Schmalz also staunchly opposes Marine’s plans of relying on speed camera revenue to reduce the deficit which, he said, is unsustainable.
“Forecasted revenues align with forecasted expenditures – and that’s it,” said Schmalz. “I tried to pass a balanced budget amendment and that went nowhere so if the council’s not going to do its job, then you need a strong executive that’s going to take the bull by the horns and straighten this financial mess out.”
Schmalz’s strategy to do this is making hard cuts and expanding revenue. He informed the Lynnwood Times that, when facing a deficit, sometimes you must “make hard decisions.”
He asked for a 10% cut in the general fund during budget deliberations, but the council said no. The city is also projected to increase its spending by $2 million next year which Schmalz called “reckless,” and “must stop.”
“This is all self-inflicted. We had the opportunity to really look at some serious cuts in the budget. The salaries of the non-union representatives, and the Department heads, over three years is $630,000 for 21 employees. That’s like getting a $30,000 raise, on average, over three years,” said Schmalz. “You don’t have enough revenue coming in to cover that.”
Separate to balancing the budget, however, Schmalz seeks to be an “advocate for residents.” He acknowledges that public officials must serve their residents, not the other way around, and has been working on solving parking issues in resident areas, zoning issues, and “stood up for folks when they had nowhere else to go.”
“We have a mayor right now that turned his back on residents but that’s not the way you’re suppose to govern. You’re suppose to work with your residents, work with your community, and solve the issues that are going on in their neighborhoods,” said Schmalz.
An example Schmalz gave of the current Mayor “turning his back on residents,” was the port property across from Ivar’s, which was owned by Marine’s family. According to Schmalz Marine had council change the zoning for that property so that his family could sell the property to the port which, Schmalz called a display of “self-interest.” Meanwhile the city lost $200,000 in waterfront parking revenue.
Schmalz also criticized Mayor Marine for running his platform on opposing high-density housing while supporting Harbour Heights – a 275-housing unit in a residential neighborhood – and doing nothing with the Waterfront development plan.
“The Trump administration is going to shut off the spigot for any federal funding, the state funding is drying up, they’re running a huge deficit, and we have less than $200,000 in refunds to any capital projects, so we have nothing. Our general fund is tapped out because we’re running a $4.6 million deficit so there’s nothing left in the hopper to really develop this,” said Schmalz. “I wish we could work something out with the Port, who seem to have more resources, but if that’s not going to happen than we need to do more interim access.”
While serving as Council President Schmalz had the idea to add gravel to park benches. He added that the city could be doing more to add grass and make the area into a park, which is mapped out in the Waterfront Master Plan to begin with, but nothing’s been done.
Regarding public safety Schmalz has always been a supporter of giving Mukilteo Police and Fire the resources they need to keep Mukilteo residents, and businesses, safe, he said, but there are also other options.
For example, slowing traffic down in residential streets to protect pedestrians, and fixing crosswalks by the ferry terminal.
“We can do a lot of things to improve people’s lives without spending a whole lotta money,” said Schmalz. “We need someone in leadership who people can go to and say this isn’t right. We have a lot of smart people in the city of Mukilteo, some who know what’s going in their neighborhoods better than the city does, and we should be constantly working with them to solve their issues but unfortunately, we haven’t been doing that.”
Steve Schmalz enjoys music, art, hiking, playing golf and ice hockey. Steve works as a Sales Representative for a Manufacturer’s Rep firm in Bellevue.
During his time on council, Schmalz has served on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee (alternate), Community Support Grant Committee, Lodging Tax Advisory Committee, and Historic Preservation Commission.
To learn more about mayoral candidate Steve Schmutz, visit https://steveschmalz.com/.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
