Mason County sheriff takes to Twitter to fight budget cuts

Mason County Sheriff Casey Salisbury is fighting proposed cuts to his department that he says would lead to layoffs.

And he’s taken to Twitter to get the point across, posting photos of the deputies who could be cut.

KING-5 reports Salisbury informed eight deputies last week they might be laid off at the end of the month because of a $2 million deficit in the county’s budget, the result of a decrease in revenues, an increase in costs for labor contracts and an expensive sewer project.

KING-5 reports county officials were told by commissioners to cut 17.5 percent from their 2017 budget to make up for the shortfall.

The sheriff’s office cuts would cut the number of deputies from 53 to 45.

IFIBER One News reports more than 20 deputies and other personnel turned out for a budget briefing Monday to lobby against the cuts.

The sheriff’s office says it was given 10 working days to decide what to cut. IFIBER One reports on the chopping block are the sheriff’s office tactical team and the county’s volunteer search and rescue team. Five jail deputies and three support staff could also be cut.

“Our levels are so down that we have required things that we have to pay for,” Salisbury told the station. “We have to pay for the lights in the jail. We have to pay for those kind of things . . . the only other place that we’ve got to cut is bodies.”

The sheriff’s office is now urging residents to contact their county commissioners.

“Please keep in mind that Commissioners Neatherlin and Jeffereys ran on a platform of increasing public safety, but these cuts do not reflect those campaign pledges,” a sheriff’s office press release says.

This story was originally published July 11, 2017 at 1:27 PM with the headline "Mason County sheriff takes to Twitter to fight budget cuts."