Emily Fitzgerald / For Nisqually Valley News
The Thurston County Board of County Commissioners has finished its 2025-27 budget deliberations and is set to vote on Tuesday, Dec. 16.
“This was not an easy year,” Thurston County Manager Leonard Hernandez said during final budget deliberations on Wednesday, Dec. 3.
The county was looking at an estimated structural deficit of $23.8 million in 2025 that “only got worse” in the 2026-27 biennium, according to Hernandez.
“We’re dealing with a biennium budget build where there’s a significant difference in the revenue that we have to pay our bills versus the expenses that have grown over time, which necessitated reductions,” Hernandez said.
The county took a proposed 26% general fund reduction — over $36 million — and whittled it down “through strategic decisions and activation of revenue,” Hernandez said, to $9.84 million in cuts.
The board has expressed “that they believe all departments are valuable and important to the operations that we serve the public with, but yet the money had to come from somewhere,” Hernandez said.
The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office, Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and Juvenile Court still see the biggest dollar amount cuts, though far less than they would have under the first draft of the budget.
The sheriff’s office sees a $1.24 million cut to law enforcement and a $1.29 million cut to corrections in the final budget — $2.5 million total — down from $5.58 million to law enforcement and $7.7 million to corrections.
While several department heads testified during public hearings on Monday, Dec. 1, about the negative impacts budget cuts will have on their operations, Sanders said he isn’t concerned about the sheriff’s office.
“The Public Safety Sales Tax has completely bailed out the sheriff’s office,” Sanders said, referring to a proposition that went into effect in April 2024 after being approved by Thurston County voters.
The public safety tax fund had a balance of $6.5 million as of October 2025, according to previous reporting. The fund is separate from the county general fund.
With that public safety tax funding, the sheriff’s office has added 27 deputies and plans to hire an additional 10.
“For the first time since 1852, I feel like we actually have an adequate number of deputy sheriffs and detectives,” Sanders said.
Sanders intends to cut 13 vacant corrections deputy positions assigned to a jail work release program to meet the $2.5 million budget reduction, according to reporting by The Olympian.
In the final draft of the budget, the Thurston County Prosecutor’s Office will see $1.36 million in cuts rather than the initial proposed $3.49 million, and Juvenile Court will lose $1.18 million rather than $2.32 million.
District Court and the Treasurer’s Office are the only two departments whose budgets won’t be reduced in the 2026-27 biennium. Social Services and Superior Court each see cuts under $6,000, and Public Works receives a $21,175 reduction. All other departments have budget reductions between $100,000 and $700,000.
While the cuts are less severe than what was initially proposed, Lewis County Superior Court Judge John Skinder said the prosecutor’s office and court services are already so underfunded that the cuts will still have a negative impact.
“I am very worried for this community,” Skinder said. “I love it here and I love my job, but this level of critical underfunding is not sustainable, and I’m worried that we are just beginning to see the harm that comes from that.”
The sheriff’s office being adequately funded is a good thing, Skinder said, but there needs to be an equal investment in the rest of the system.
“Otherwise, it’s like a table where you chop one leg out and the whole table falls. And my worry is that’s where we’re at,” Skinder said.
Hernandez said he is grateful to Thurston County staff and the Board of County Commissioners for how they handled the budgeting process this year, noting that many surrounding counties are also struggling with budget deficits and are scrambling to address them.
“The board took a strategy to talk about this throughout the year. We’ve had a number of significant meetings all throughout the year, and I appreciate the board and the budget team and the entire organization’s commitment to that process,” he said.
The preliminary 2026-27 budget can be reviewed online at
https://www.thurstoncountywa.gov/departments/board-county-commissioners/budget-office/thurston-county-biennial-budgets.
