Don’t like how Thurston County spends your money? Now you can balance the budget yourself
A new interactive tool allows the public to share where they want Thurston County to spend its money, potentially affecting funding for public works, employee raises, law enforcement and more.
Through the online budget simulation, participants can choose which General Fund requests the Board of County Commissioners should fund with a $4 million surplus.
The county launched the tool last week and it will be available through Friday, Oct. 21. Budget decisions are expected to be made the week of Oct. 24, according to Assistant County Manager Robin Campbell.
The board heard budget change requests from offices and departments last week. The hearings came as the board considers a midterm budget adjustment for 2023, the second year in its biennial budget.
Requests of the General Fund for 2023 exceed the current budget by $8 million, Campbell shared in a statement to The Olympian. The 2023 budget was set at $121.4 million, but she said the requested budget is $129.4 million.
“Overall revenue estimates are anticipated to go down by about $1.5 million in 2023 compared to the original estimate, mainly because sales tax is coming in under the original forecast,” Campbell said.
Campbell said the board has been considering covering employee cost-of-living increases, rising employee medical insurance costs and increasingly costly risk insurance and capital projects. Many county programs have become more costly due to inflation, she said.
At the same time, she said the board must manage the lingering impacts of the health crisis, homelessness and the use of COVID-19 related revenue.
“Although the county currently has a robust ending fund balance in the general fund, Commissioners are taking a fiscally responsible long-term view, and recognize that a large amount of revenue that created that fund balance was one-time money connected to COVID,” Campbell said.
Simulation tool requests
The simulation tool categorizes requests in six areas: economic vitality, general government, health and human services, internal services, law and justice and legislative. Participants are encouraged to explore individual requests and find ways to balance the budget.
However, the tool is limited to General Fund requests. This means participants can’t see requests for public works utilities, public health and social services, according to the tool description.
The largest request participants can share feedback on is a nearly $5 million request from human resources to cover a 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment for all staff except Sheriff and Correction deputies, a 4% cost-of-living adjustment for Sheriff’s Office correction deputies and a 4.1% cost-of-living adjustment for sheriff deputies.
Additionally, the request includes a one-time bonus totaling $374,500 for sheriff deputies to encourage retention, more funding for insurance premiums, more funding for employee pensions, and more funding for employee medical insurance premiums.
In the economic vitality category, the Public Works Department has requested $507,744. Most of this funding, $337,744, would go toward two additional full-time positions to maintain parks and trails.
The rest of the public works request involves covering costs associated with Lake Management Districts, including providing $165,000 for the initial development and operations of a Pattison Lake LMD.
In the law and justice category, the Sheriff’s Office has requested $535,822 for law enforcement and $262,142 to cover medical services at the county jail.
Among other items, the law enforcement request includes $488,576 to add two additional deputies. That amount includes salaries, benefits, supplies, services and equipment costs, according to Jennifer Smith, a senior budget analyst in the Commissioner’s Office.
Public Defense has requested $199,790 to add three additional full-time equivalents. One would administer a case management system. The other two would be a new defense attorney and a legal assistant to help indigent clients involuntarily detained in Thurston County.
More requests can be found by using the simulation tool. In addition to selecting priorities, the tool also allows participants to submit comments.
The public can explore the tool at https://thurston.abalancingact.com/2023-midterm-budget-development.
