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Commissioners push for 5% department cuts, ask staff for revised proposals by Monday
Summary
With a roughly $2.9–3.0 million gap under a 5% cut scenario for 2026, commissioners agreed to ask departments that did not submit 5% reduction plans to do so and to let commissioners meet with budget staff to finalize cuts; staff cautioned 7.5% would require substantial staffing reductions.
Walla Walla County commissioners on Nov. 25 discussed strategies to close an anticipated 2026 budget gap and agreed to ask departments to submit 5% reduction scenarios by Monday morning, with commissioners available to work with budget staff on unresolved items.
Commissioner Kimball said most departments had supplied outlines for 5% and 7.5% cuts but a few had not met the 5% target. He asked Diane, the county budget staff member handling the spreadsheet, for an update. Diane said she compiled submissions and that a 5% reduction across participating departments would reduce expenditures by about $3 million. "With 5% cuts, we are at, 26,960,000," she said, and cautioned that a 7.5% reduction would require deeper personnel cuts in many offices.
Kimball urged a practical follow‑up for departments that did not provide a 5% plan. "My proposal is that one of the commissioners, meeting with Diane... sit down with Diane and figure out exactly where that 5% would come from for those departments that did not provide us 5%." The board agreed to ask departments to resubmit or clarify their 5% scenarios and to allow commissioners to confer with budget staff where necessary.
Commissioner Clayton emphasized this exercise is proactive budgeting rather than a reaction to overspending and warned the public not to interpret the difference as mismanagement. Commissioners also discussed relying partially on historical underspending and beginning fund balance to bridge remaining differences; Kimball noted past years typically see $2 million to $3 million in unspent departmental funds and vacancy savings that contribute to the county's beginning fund balance.
The board also discussed other longer‑term revenue tools — including tax increment financing (TIF) proposals being debated at the state level — but agreed those are not immediate solutions to the 2026 gap. The board directed staff to request revised 5% proposals from departments and to place the budget on an expedited review schedule ahead of year end.
Motion and next steps: commissioners approved procedural requests to solicit revised department cuts and authorized staff and individual commissioners to meet with budget staff to finalize unresolved reductions; departments were asked to provide 5% scenarios by Monday morning.
