It will cost $98M to electrify and upgrade Olympia’s buildings, officials say
Olympia Facility Manager Eli Cole said during a Finance Committee meeting on April 20 that it will cost $36.3 million to make city buildings fully electric by 2040. He said it will cost even more to address issues within city buildings that will need to be handled within the same timeframe.
Cole said the City Council adopted a resolution in April 2022 that included a pledge to be net-zero by 2040. An interim target was established to reduce emissions 59% below 2019 levels by 2030.
He said McKinstry, a construction and energy company, was contracted in 2025 to conduct a facility condition assessment. Cole said the assessment was meant to inform efforts to move toward renewable energy and away from fossil fuels.
The assessment looked at 15 city buildings, including City Hall, fire departments, the Washington Center, Olympia Center and the Hands On Children’s Museum. Each building was ranked depending on its age and current deficiencies, as well as the financial need to address deficiencies for each facility.
City Hall, OFD 2 and the OFD training center were ranked well, while the Olympia Center, 108 State Avenue (former City Hall), and the Timberland Library were among the worst rankings. Cole said the overall 10-year capital need for the 15 buildings is $31 million.
He said some examples of deficiencies that affect a building’s score are things like hot water tanks, furnaces, and electrical panels aging and needing to be replaced. He said the scores show that significant investment needs to be made in order to keep up with the buildings in their life cycle.
Cole used the Olympia Center as an example in his presentation. He said a number of critical pieces need to be replaced, including HVAC systems, the elevator, the water heater and some interior finish issues. He said upgrading the building would cost $3.4 million. He said upgrading the HVAC system to electric would cost an additional $3.7 million.
He included a 30-year deficiency outlook for all 15 buildings, which would end up costing the city more than $255 million. He said moving all city buildings to electricity would help reduce some of those costs.
According to his presentation, 44% of buildings are on renewable electricity, 26% are a mix of fossil fuels and clean electricity, and 30% use natural gas. The Squaxin Park office was the only one in his presentation that appears to run completely on renewable energy. However, he said City Hall uses 90% renewable energy from the Skookumchuck wind farm and solar panels on the building.
Cole said the cost for electrification of each building would cost a total of $36.3 million. The big-ticket projects would be the Olympia Center, at $8.5 million, City Hall, at $6.2 million, and the city’s Maintenance Center, at $4 million.
Electrification of OFD’s station 1 is estimated to cost $3.7 million, and the Olympia Timberland Library is estimated to cost $3.5 million.
City Manager Jay Burney said during the meeting that securing enough funding to meet the city’s 2040 goal is a moving target. He said the need for a new maintenance center and the possible relocation of the Timberland Library may also play into plans.
Burney said it could come down to the city going to the voters to help fund projects through a new tax measure.
Burney told The Olympian on April 22 that there are no current plans to bring anything to voters, and that he was speaking in broad terms. He said in order to move projects like that forward in the future, the city would likely need to go to the voters, as Olympia “would not have the budget capacity to support the debt service.”
Cole said the Facilities Department has an annual revenue of about $3 million, which comes from Business & Occupation tax revenue, City Hall and Maintenance Center rentals, and General Fund transfers and investments.
Cole said the total cost for building upgrades and electrification would cost $97.6 million. He said that would be about $7.5 million annually over the next 13 years. He said this would result in an annual deficit in the department of $5.4 million.
He said the city will be applying for grants from the state and Puget Sound Energy to help fund projects, as well as reviewing the city’s Capital Facilities Plan to find projects that line up with Olympia’s electrification needs and goals.
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