Residents urge commissioners to protect sheriff staffing as Walla Walla County opens 2026 budget hearing

Walla Walla County commissioners opened a public hearing on the proposed 2026 budget on Dec. 8, 2025, and heard multiple residents urge them not to cut sheriff staffing.

"If there's a cut as small as 5% for our Sheriff's Department, it will take away 2 deputy positions from our County," Sarah Herrera, a Walla Walla resident, told the board, urging commissioners to prioritize 24-hour coverage. Several other commenters echoed her concern, citing delayed response times and the county's large patrol area.

Commissioner Kimball disputed a characterization in a letter attributed to Sheriff Bridal that the sheriff's original proposal represented only a 1% increase over 2025. Kimball said the sheriff's proposed 2026 law-and-justice funding would total about $7.439 million — a roughly 4.77% increase over 2025 — and that, accounting for certain adjustments, the increase can read differently depending on which line items are included. "So the statement that was made in this letter ... is factually incorrect," Kimball said, urging the public to consult the auditor's website for the line-by-line figures.

Commissioner Clayton said he met with the sheriff and described a forthcoming proposal that would close the county's budget gap by leaving two positions unfilled rather than removing deputies from patrol. "The 5% cut that we are proposing ... would basically mean that 2 positions would remain unfilled," he said.

Commissioner Fulmer provided a detailed accounting of recent, mostly unbudgeted, investments made for deputies' safety and operational capacity — including new vehicles, radios, body cameras, computers and a recent pay structure adjustment — and said the county has covered roughly $3.6 million "above and beyond" sheriff funding between 2020 and 2025. She also described a recent offer to a lateral recruit of roughly $7,954 a month with fully county-paid employee insurance for that position.

No final appropriation was adopted on Dec. 8; the board voted unanimously to continue the public hearing to Dec. 15, 2025, to allow additional testimony and time to reconcile budget figures.

Why it matters: Decisions on the current-expense and law-and-justice budgets determine staffing levels and response capacity for policing across the county. Commissioners said the continuation will give them time to review detailed line items and public feedback.

The hearing will reconvene on Dec. 15, 2025, and the board invited written comments to the commissioners' office until then.