In September, the county executive is required to submit a proposed annual budget for the calendar year beginning January 1. The county council reviews the proposed budget and votes to adopt it.

Snohomish County's annual budget for 2003 amounts to about $659 Million. Of this $659 million, business that the county conducts with itself (interfund transactions) accounts for about 14%. It is customary to eliminate these transactions when discussing the general budget (the interfund transactions balance to zero). The Expenditure Budget of $565.8 million (2003) is the county's annual budget with these interfund transactions eliminated.

The county spends about a fifth of the Expenditure Budget (18.8%) on law enforcement and justice, way less than a tenth (7.4%) on all human services, a bit more than a quarter (27.5%) on financial and other general services, and nearly a half (46.3%) on infrastructure and development.

About 75% of the county's entire budget is non-discretionary spending of dedicated funds. The county has little leeway in choosing how to spend dedicated funds. How the county proposes to spend the remaining 25% of the budget—discretionary spending—is to be found in the General Fund Budget ($165 million in 2003). Understand that the General Fund Budget is really just a way to focus in on a part of the entire budget. This part of the budget is the subject of much discussion, however, because the county has some flexibility in choosing how this part is to be spent.

Currently, law enforcement and justice services are the largest item paid for with money from the General Fund, followed by county department budgets. Together, these account for about 87% of General Fund expenses.

Revenues that pay for the items in the General Fund Budget are raised from two sources: the county's share of local property taxes, and the county's share of Washington state sales and use taxes. The amount of sales and use taxes made available each year to the county fluctuates with the state's overall economy.

Revenues that pay for the remaining items in the budget come from a variety of sources including direct fees for licenses, permits, and services provided by the county to other county offices and to the public; mitigation fees from developers; interest earnings, transfers, and reserves; and grants from state and federal governments.

Because the county is responsible for assessing property value and collecting property taxes, it is often assumed that all property taxes are dedicated to pay for county services. This is not true. In fact, the county's share of local property taxes is 17% (2003), and if you live in a city it is less than that.

Most property tax revenue (60%) is dedicated to supporting public schools. Then cities and towns get their share (12.83%), and the remainder goes directly to supporting the local infrastructure—parks and recreation (0.06%), port districts (0.56%), hospitals (1.04%), libraries (2.75%), and fire districts (5.83%).