Thurston County commissioners tentatively apply $10M to ease 2026 budget cuts; set priorities for $7.5M in restorations

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 certain court services. Several commissioners cautioned against cutting district court before completion of an ongoing rate study and interlocal negotiations. "I couldn't agree more with Commissioner Mejia. I was actually gonna recommend that we don't cut district court at all because of the potential revenue that will be brought in with the rate study," said Commissioner Grant. Staff confirmed a rate-study timeline: first quarter of next year, with subsequent negotiation and interlocal agreement activity stretching into 2026.

Budget staff provided several numerical examples during the discussion. Under the earlier 17.5% exercise, staff said district court's proposed reduction target was $1.264 million; commissioners calculated that fully eliminating that cut would require roughly $851,000 from the pool of available restoration dollars. Staff also described corrections scenarios: an initial $7.7 million reduction scenario could shrink to roughly $5.1 million when the $10 million is applied, and to $3.6 million under a larger restoration scenario. Staff cautioned that some sheriff and corrections cuts could raise implementation risks because minimum staffing is required to operate the jail safely and reductions can increase overtime costs.

The board also discussed staffing vacancy data that staff said were out-of-date and had not been vetted with departments. "The information, of vacancies and the associated dollar amount wasn't intended to be included in this report out," Summer, budget staff, said, recommending removal of that data point from deliberations until verified.

Commissioners flagged other decision points for follow-up, including: final sheriff/public-safety sales-tax allocations and maintenance-of-effort calculations; the district court rate study and subsequent interlocal agreements with Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater; options for revenue and non-revenue offsets (for example, fee changes, furloughs or COLA adjustments); and potential program transfers (for example, fairgrounds or cultural-access ideas) to shift costs away from the general fund.

The board gave staff direction to prepare detailed allocations and to invite, as needed, department representatives to answer targeted operational questions during the coming sessions. Commissioners tentatively agreed to the $10 million reapplication concept by thumbs-up; staff will present an itemized restoration plan for the approximately $7.5 million plus any additional revenue changes when the board reconvenes.

Next steps: staff will refine numbers, vet vacancy and contract details with departments, and return to the board on Friday at 1:30 p.m. with a motion-ready set of allocations and any new revenue assumptions for board action.