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Thurston County commissioners tentatively apply $10M to ease 2026 budget cuts; set priorities for $7.5M in restorations
Summary
In a Sept. 24 working session, the Board agreed in principle to apply $10 million to reduce proposed department cuts and directed staff to return with allocations for roughly $7.5 million in targeted restorations. Commissioners flagged emergency management, assessor, coroner, treasurer and court services as high priorities.
Thurston County commissioners on Sept. 24 reached informal agreement to apply $10 million toward the county's proposed 2026 budget reductions, lowering an initial worst-case target and leaving roughly $7.5 million for targeted restorations and office-specific requests.
County leaders said the $10 million would reduce across-the-board reduction targets from roughly 26% to about 17.5% and that the board would reconvene on Friday, Sept. 26 at 1:30 p.m. to decide how to allocate the remaining funds to specific offices and departments. County staff described the 17.5% scenario as a new baseline; staff called the tan column their new "worst-case" scenario if the board confirmed the $10 million reapplication.
Commissioners discussed multiple high-priority, small-budget operations that they did not want to pare back heavily, including Emergency Management, the Treasurer's Office, Coroner, Assessor, and…
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