MUKILTEO—Mukilteo Mayor Joe Marine won an historic fourth term in the November 2025 General Election, ushering in four more years of an administration under his leadership—the longest for any mayor since the incorporation of the city in 1947. To hear what’s in store for Mukilteo residents and businesses, Lynnwood Times Senior Reporter Kienan Briscoe met with Mayor Marine in his office to discuss his priorities, policies, and what’s on the horizon.
Mayor Marine’s top priority, leading into 2026, is going to be primarily centered on developing the Mukilteo Waterfront, he said.
What used to be an old Navy base was transferred to the Port of Everett in 2000 thanks to legislation passed that year. In 2001 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) decided they wanted to build a new research facility on that 1.1 acres of land. The legislation was then amended to grant NOAA the 1.1 acres so they could build their facility. However, there was a provision in the amendment that stated if NOAA did not build the facility the land would be transferred to the Port.
“The port’s going to be a big part of our waterfront moving forward, they have the NOA piece that’s being transferred over to them literally any day now. I know we’ve been saying that for a while but when dealing with the federal government sometimes things can take a little longer,” said Mayor Marine. “But we know they’re going to be the stewards of the development of that property.”
Marine continued that he’d love to see developments at the waterfront that would allow others to do more activities in addition to enhancing Lighthouse Park – which he said is “already a great gem for the county.
As it stands, about two thirds of Lighthouse Park is asphalt, Marine noted, but he would love to see that be “greened up” to make the park even bigger. However, to do that the city needs to move the parking lot and he would like to see that happen with some sort of structure, possibly behind Diamond Knot Brewing which would also add pedestrian access from the nearby bridge.
“We’ll have a promenade that will run the length of the waterfront, so you’ll have restaurants, shops, but everything has to be setback because it is a waterfront,” said Marine. “Envision Park benches where you could sit and enjoy the waterfront, art installments, and more.”
The artwork, Marine added, will most likely be keeping on theme of Native American artwork – such as the brand-new totem created by Joe Gobin, who also did the Native American artwork at the Mukilteo ferry terminal.
As for the property the city owns (not including the area of Japanese Gulch which is currently undergoing daylighting), there’s five different options the City of Mukilteo could move forward with: There’s doing nothing, which Mayor Marine is not a fan of, there’s adding a centralized Waterfront Park, there’s selling the property to a developer, leasing the property to a developer, or handing it over to the Port and letting them develop it.
In addition to not being a fan of doing nothing with the property, Mayor Marine is also not a fan of developing a park because there already exists two parks – Lighthouse Park and Edgewater Beach Park – and the city would have to pay the cost of building a park, and maintaining a park, without collecting additional sales tax or property tax.
“I would rather see us develop that out with shops and restaurants, while still having public access over the entire thing,” said Marine.
As far as public safety, Marine noted he will be cracking down on speeding and “noisy cars” – which has been an ongoing public concern as of late.
Red light cameras, and photo enforced speeding cameras, were a start – especially considering it frees up officers to patrol other areas of the city, in addition to adding revenue for the city.
“It’s important that we have a community where people feel safe whether they’re visiting, or living, here. I’m really proud of the fact that we have a really safe, clean, community,” said Marine.
In getting into the budget, Mayor Marine was asked how he turned the city’s $1.6 million budget deficit into a surplus leading into 2026. Marine said he “knew all along” things would work out in the end.
Despite this confidence, Marine added that some council members leveraged the city’s, first ever, biennial budget’s deficit for the purpose of, what he suspects, was either “political curmudgeon” or “lack of experience.”
“I knew going in that we were going to have revenue, I just couldn’t put it in the budget because it wasn’t there yet,” said Marine. “We couldn’t put in the EMS levy if it wouldn’t have passed, the annexation, which was about $500,000 in additional revenue, the red-light cameras…this is my twelfth budget, I know what I’m doing, and I knew we were going to be fine.”
Now that the city has a surplus, Mayor Marine added that the city will be working on building South Mukilteo Park, new Pickleball courts, and brand-new entrance signs sometime this spring.
Mayor Marine was then asked about his decision to veto a 0.1% sales tax increase (Ordinance No. 1518) that would have made Mukilteo’s sax tax the highest in the state. Marine, realistically, said the tax increase most likely would not have been felt by Mukilteo residents (at about one penny per $10) but it was about “the message.”
“That would have raised about $500,000 for the city, roughly, and it was around the time when council were concerned about the revenue, but two things concerned me. One it was the message it sends that we would be in all the newspapers having the highest sales tax in the state and people will make their decisions on where they go, and where the shop, based on that,” said Marine. “Second, we needed to pass the EMS levy in order to keep our fire department and that was much more important than the sales tax.”
The mentioned EMS levy did in fact pass, by voter support last November, for up to .50 for every $1,000 of assessed property value – which is still one of the lowest property tax rates in Snohomish County.
The City of Mukilteo, along with Everett, is one of the last two cities in the county that continues to have its own fire department. The EMS levy will be crucial, Marine added, in continuing to keep the city’s fire services, in addition to making much-needed improvements to Mukilteo’s two outdated fire stations – which were built in the 1990’s.
The conversation of transitioning to a regional fire service could come up in the future, Marine said, but he would want to look at things like costs, call volumes, and ultimately what’s best for Mukilteo residents.
Marine added that he feels the City of Mukilteo is “probably the best deal” regarding “what we do with what we get,” pointing to the city’s cleanliness (for example, lack of graffiti) as just one example of the city “running lean.”
He continued that just losing one staff member in a city department would impact the city’s ability to deliver services to its residents, which he said was another reason why he was staunchly opposed to layoffs when the council were concerned about the budget deficit.
Marine was then asked about how he plans to balance maintaining Mukilteo’s “small town feel” with state housing requirements.
“I see both sides of what’s going on. The state says we need more density, we have more people coming and we need to make space for them, but I caution them because are we going to have the same numbers they were looking at before, especially with the borders not open,” said Marine. “Do we have more people coming into Washington that are leaving? Let’s take a real look at the numbers of the people who really are coming, but we also can’t keep throwing people in without updating infrastructure.”
Lastly, and in closing, Marine encouraged all Mukilteo residents to reach out to him, and his team, regarding anything city related. A great way to do this, he said, is attending Work Sessions where City Council meetings are typically less formal and have more time to listen to their constituents.
Marine also encouraged Mukilteo residents to get more involved in their community, including applying for Boards and Commission openings.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
