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Commissioners push departments to use attrition, prioritize mandatory services to close budget gap
Summary
At a July 21 strategic planning meeting, commissioners and managers discussed using attrition, vacancy reviews and service-level reductions to reduce labor costs and align spending with flat revenues; several departments reported position eliminations and reclassifications.
Spokane County commissioners told department managers July 21 to prioritize mandatory services and use attrition and vacancy reviews to reduce labor costs as part of plans to close a projected budget shortfall.
Why it matters: labor is the county's largest expense and departments collectively must balance cutting costs without undermining statutorily required services.
Commissioner Burrows emphasized aligning service levels to available revenues and identifying "must dos" versus "nice dos." He urged early action on vacancies, saying the earlier departments begin using attrition, the easier reductions will be to implement without layoffs. "Attrition is another big thing. You know, our number 1 expense we have here is labor," Burrows said.
Examples from departments: - Several departments reported eliminating vacant positions. Burrows and staff said initial vacancy reviews had removed roughly 70 positions; a later comment put the number "up to 79." "We have already started, started looking at attrition, looking at positions that have been vacant for extended period of time. That's we have, we've we've eliminated 70 positions just looking at that," a commissioner said. - The clerk's office and legal offices identified operational efficiencies through digitization and reassigning staff paid from restricted state funds out of the general fund. - The sheriff/public-safety and public works teams were identified as likely to draw strong public comment if service levels are reduced; staff said parks, public safety, and transportation commonly generate the most public interest.
Staff asked departments to submit budgets that show what can be done at assigned targets, identify reductions that affect service levels and offer prioritized lists of items to restore if dollars become available. "When you submit your budget back, you're going to outline some of the things that you change or adjust with your budget to meet what your assigned budget is," a county staff member said.
Ending: Commissioners reiterated there is no single easy fix and called for creativity, cross-department coordination and early planning to use attrition as a primary tool to reduce labor costs ahead of formal budget adoption.
