Budget cuts will hinder courts and public safety, Thurston County officials warn
READ MORE
Thurston County works to close 2026 budget deficit
Thurston County commissioners are deciding how to close an estimated $36 million budget gap in the general fund, the county’s primary operating fund, for 2026.
Expand All
Proposed budget cuts will increase Thurston County court delays and erode public safety despite growing need, officials warn.
County leadership intends to cut about $9.8 million from the county’s general fund in 2026 to address a structural deficit.
About $6.4 million of that cut will come out of general fund allocations for the county’s law and justice offices and departments, according to county documents.
County officials initially explored steeper cuts, as high as 26%, to fill a $36 million deficit earlier this year. However, the Board of County Commissioners has taken a series of measures to mitigate the deficit and impact of those cuts. Still, officials say the cuts will strain already lean operations, causing delays for people interacting with the court system as well as weakening public safety.
During a public hearing last week, Thurston County Superior Court Judge John Skinder pointed out that a significant portion of the cuts will affect the court system.
“The job that the Board has in terms of determining how monies are spent is a challenging job,” Skinder said. “No one thinks it is an easy job, but our county continues to grow, and the priority for funding should be on core services that are required by the Constitution. Public safety is a huge component of that.”
The number of people living in Thurston County rose nearly 4.9% from 291,793 in 2020 to 307,000 in 2025, according to April data from the Washington State Office of Financial Management.
The Sheriff’s Office is facing a $2.5 million general fund cut. Yet, the agency has continued to hire more deputies with help from the Public Safety Sales Tax, which voters approved in 2023.
“The reality is, when we make that investment, where will those cases go?” Skinder said. “They will go to Superior Court.”
Commissioner and Board Chair Tye Menser said public safety is important to the Board.
Since the initial 26% budget exercise in September, Menser said the board worked with stakeholders to reduce the cuts to the court system as much as possible and leverage vacancy savings to minimize potential layoffs.
“I think a lot of work was done to address the concerns about the court,” Menser said. “We share the concerns that were expressed. They were valid.”
Superior Court warns of delays, backlogs
Superior Court hears felonies, civil cases, appeals, adoptions, dependency cases, family law, protection orders, probates and guardianship matters.
If the Sheriff’s Office has more resources to make arrests, Skinder said that will likely affect the workload for the rest of the court system.
“When there are stakeholders where money is being provided, there also has to be money to Superior Court to be able to do all that work,” Skinder said. “It’s like a table, where you chop one leg out and the whole table falls,” Skinder said. “And my worry is that’s where we’re at.”
Superior Court is facing just a $3,049 cut, according to budget documents. That number was brought down from an initial $2.4 million estimate earlier this year after negotiations with county leadership.
Superior Court will have a total budget of about $10.2 million in 2026 with $8.7 million being from the general fund and the remainder being from other funds, per the documents.
Juvenile Court, a division of Superior Court that has a separate operating budget, is slated to get hit with a nearly $1.2 million general fund reduction. This division provides court, probation and detention services for youths up to 18-years-old.
The total budget for Juvenile Court is about $8.7 million in 2026. Around $7.4 million of that comes from the general fund and the remainder comes from other funds.
Kristin Jensen, the Administrator for Thurston County Superior Court, told The Olympian that juvenile court is using savings from numerous vacancies to meet the cut. However, Jensen stressed that these positions are needed, most critically a detention supervisor.
Requests for needed positions in Superior Court have not been approved in light of the county’s budget woes, Jensen said. The lack of people and resources has created a “constant revolving door,” she said.
“We have a lot of staff burnout because we are historically underfunded and our staffing levels are critical,” Jensen said.
For the public, this means contending with paperwork backlogs and delayed court case resolutions.
“Justice delayed is justice denied,” Jensen said. “There’s a lot to be said in those simple words, but it’s true. The Supreme Court and the courts of appeals in Washington have repeatedly found that court congestion is no excuse for not getting to trial timely.”
Jensen said timely access to justice is the top priority of Superior Court, but that will be increasingly difficult to achieve without more money.
“We know that the people who suffer the most are the most vulnerable in the community,” Jensen said. “So that’s a real concern.”
Court Clerk plans to reduce services to public
The Clerk’s Office is expected to cut about $777,478 from its general fund allocation, a significant amount that will force Clerk Linda Mhyre Enlow to make tough decisions.
“I will be forced to reduce my hours of operations, which I have already reduced by three hours per day,” Enlow said. “I may be forced to cut my services at the counter and provide only online services to the public, which I am allowed to do by law.”
Enlow oversees an office that records Superior Court proceedings, maintains court records and collects fines and fees ordered by the court. The proposed budget indicates the Clerk’s Office will have about $4.3 million in 2026, nearly all of which comes from the general fund.
Enlow recently told The Olympian the cuts will force her to reconsider two non-mandatory programs.
One is the Domestic Violence Program. This allows staff to help victims go through the process to get a protection order. Without the program, people unable to afford private assistance may make errors on the required paperwork.
“The effect would be those victims most likely will get denied their petitions and not have the protections,” Enlow said. “And the worst-case scenario is they could be harmed up to and including death.”
Another is the Courthouse Facilitator Program. Staff assigned to this program help self-represented litigants navigate the legal system. Court rules require orders prepared by litigants to undergo review prior to the final hearing, she said.
Without this program, people will have to seek private legal counsel, which will likely prove costly. Currently, this program costs litigants just $25 per half-hour session.
Notably, about 65% of family law cases are filed without an attorney, according to the Clerk’s Office.
Enlow said she has 42 full-time-equivalent positions and may have to cut some of them to meet the reduction. If that happens, court hearings may be delayed and people may have to wait longer to access court documents.
Arthur West, an Olympia resident and open government advocate who often self-represents himself in court cases, sued the county last month over the state of the Clerk’s Office.
In his lawsuit, West requests the court order the Clerk to restore her in-person public access hours to a full business day and refrain from instituting any limitations to public service. Additionally, West requested the Board of County Commissioners be ordered to sufficiently fund the Clerk’s Office.
Prosecuting Attorney’s Office says they will decline to file certain cases
The Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is “barely holding on” with minimum staffing levels, said PAO Chief of Staff Christy Peters during the public hearing last week.
“The notification of a 26% budget (cut) exercise in early September led to the resignation of four deputy prosecuting attorneys simply because they were afraid that their positions would be eliminated due to the budget reductions,” Peters said.
Prosecuting Attorney Jon Tunheim prosecutes misdemeanor and felony crimes as well as represents Thurston County government in legal matters. His office is grappling with a nearly $1.4 million general fund reduction.
The proposed budget indicates the PAO will have about $16.1 million in 2026 with $13.8 million of that coming from the general fund.
Peters, speaking on behalf of Tunheim, said the PAO has had trouble recruiting and retaining staff since the COVID-19 pandemic. She said this was accelerated by news of the steep budget deficit.
She said the PAO may decline to file felony, non-violent cases in Superior and District Courts if staff cannot meet the workload.
“Even if the sheriff is able to make legitimate arrests of felony nonviolent, we will not have resources to prosecute them,” Peters said.
Peters said that cuts will have a “negative impact on recruitment and retention, as well as an obvious burnout for all Thurston County prosecutors employees.”
Pre-Trial Services will see a $169,490 cut under the proposed budget, according to county documents. Meanwhile, the Coroner’s Office is expected to take a $326,798 cut.
Thurston County Public Defense and District Court are not slated to receive any general fund reductions.
Public Defense is hiring more attorneys and support staff to meet new caseload standards set by the Washington state Supreme Court, The Olympian previously reported.
Meanwhile, District Court has been spared from cuts because it contracts with local cities. Commissioner Caroline Mejia previously said the county intends to conduct a rate study next year to determine the true costs of services to the local cities.
The board is expected to approve a final budget during a regular business meeting on Dec. 16. The preliminary budget can be found on the Thurston County website.
