‘I’m shocked.’ Thurston County passes $1B budget with contentious 3-2 vote
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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.
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Thurston County commissioners narrowly adopted a new biennial budget with substantial spending cuts Tuesday.
The $1 billion budget for 2026-2027 passed with a contentious 3-2 vote at The Atrium, the county’s administrative headquarters in Olympia.
The budget vote and surrounding discussion highlighted divisions on the board. Commissioners Rachel Grant and Emily Clouse both voted against approving the operating and capital budgets, citing concerns with the budget building process and public transparency. Their three seatmates pushed back on those concerns and passed the budget over their objections.
“I’ve never seen a commissioner not vote on the budget,” Commissioner and Board Chair Tye Menser said. “I would say I’m disappointed, but I think I would say I’m shocked. Frankly, I think it’s incredibly irresponsible.”
The board would have no authority to spend any money next year if the budget vote failed, Budget Manager Summer Miller told the board. County Manager Leonard Hernandez stressed the impact of this outcome.
“Summer spoke to our Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, and it’s clear that things come to a grinding halt,” Hernandez said. “If there is no budget, there is no authority for any department or official to spend money in the county and our activity stops, everything.”
County leadership initially estimated a $36 million general fund deficit earlier this year. Through a variety of cost saving decisions, the board brought down the deficit to about $9.8 million.
The general fund is the county’s primary operating purse. This fund is budgeted at about $148 million for 2026 and $145 million in 2027, according to the preliminary budget book.
Cuts to this fund are expected to cause delays and reductions across a swath of public services, including in some of the county’s law and justice offices, officials have warned.
As part of this budget, the board also decided to shift millions in county road property tax levy proceeds to the general fund. This action is expected to hamper the county’s ability to maintain and improve county roads in the years to come, officials have said.
Commissioners Grant, Clouse explain their votes
Before the vote, Grant said she had not received basic budget reports that she needed to make an informed decision.
She said she could not “in good conscience” support the budget without this information, especially in light of cuts to the public safety and court operations.
“Local government budgeting requires transparency, a demonstrably balanced budget, clear fund accounting, documented revenue assumptions and the ability for both the commissioners and the public to understand what’s being funded and why,” Grant said. “Those basic principles have not been met.”
She clarified that her vote was not in response to the performance of county staff who she said worked with professionalism and commitment.
Clouse echoed Grant, adding that the budget process has not been easy to follow for the public.
“I was not elected to pass a county budget that the public can’t easily verify or follow or meaningfully weigh in on,” Clouse said. “I know that might be a controversial piece, but this year, even when we’ve technically followed a process, what I’ve heard from the public is that it was not an accessible process.”
The public came out in numbers earlier this year to protest cuts to the Sheriff’s Office and Joint Animal Services. However, Clouse said the Dec. 1 public hearings on the budget had little to no public participation.
“Going into 2026, I would like us to continue to respect how hard staff are working and also be honest that our systems and management supports were not sufficient to produce a clear, public facing budget on time,” Clouse said.
Throughout the year, county staff have grappled with a new financial and human resources system called TC Connect. Officials said issues with this system stymied the budget building process, The Olympian previously reported.
Clouse said she did not feel like her suggestions about how to approach the budget were heard by her seatmates. Meanwhile, Grant said she wished the board spent more time on the budget and understanding the impact of cuts.
The majority pushes back on concerns
Menser said he believed the board did a good job whittling down a $36 million deficit to about $9.8 million and spreading the cuts in a targeted fashion.
“There’s so many decisions embedded,” Menser said. “No one’s ever going to be able to say: ‘That’s the perfect budget I would have written.’ But I really feel like we worked so hard to get a really big deficit closed. In that I would like to feel like we could all, at least on that basis, say we supported this as a democratic representation of the effort the board did.”
Commissioner Carolina Mejia said rising costs have been outpacing the county’s revenue in ways that are hard for it to control.
“Washington’s revenue structure limits annual property tax growth to 1%,” Mejia said. “Counties statewide are struggling to keep up with rising costs and labor, liability and mandated services. And the larger counties had to dig so deep into their reserves that their future forecast is just as dire.”
The budget Thurston County crafted is the result of months of collaboration, analysis and responsible stewardship, she said.
“I know how hard Summer (Miller) worked along with all the budget team,” Mejia said. “I appreciate all the hard work you did. All the countless times I had questions about the budget, you provided that information.”
She lamented that the county took money from its road fund, but said it was a necessary move despite the impact on future transportation projects.
“We are decimating our county road fund,” Mejia said. “We did it to keep essential services in the county whole. That, to me, hurts.”
Commissioner Wayne Fournier said he did not agree with the concerns raised by Grant and Clouse.
“I do believe that we were provided with timely information,” Fournier said. “It’s just that this is hard, and it’s not easy to make hard decisions.”
The county is in a budget crisis, Fournier said. The board needed to make cuts this year to balance the budget, he said.
More difficult decisions will likely follow next year, he added.
This story was originally published December 17, 2025 at 2:28 PM.
