Spokane County Commissioners approve 2025 budget totaling $865 million, smaller than years past

The Spokane County Commissioners adopted a 2025 budget last week that’s smaller than in years past, despite increased investments in the criminal justice system, mental health services and capital improvement projects.

This year’s economic climate put some pressure on local governments in balancing their 2035 budgets, including Spokane County.

Revenue streams – primarily sales tax proceeds – did not meet expected growth, leading to some tightening of the purse strings for local governments across the state. As the commissioners began the budgeting earlier this year, they requested departments identify cuts and efficiencies wherever possible.

“The had some difficult choices to make,” said Spokane County CEO Scott Simmons. “We knew our revenues were going to be pretty flat because of the stagnant economy and the slow and limited growth on sales taxes, which is one of our larger revenue sources.”

The county’s total 2025 budget of $864.8 million is a nearly 8% decrease from last year’s total of $937 million, after years of stark increases.

Spokane County had budgets in the $675 million range from 2020 through 2022.

The 2023 budget was $873 million, although there was a straightforward explanation for the higher amount. The county was spending $30 million on a new law enforcement shooting range on the West Plains. On top of that, the county had $101 million in one-time federal stimulus funds sitting in its budget. Those funds accounted for more than $70 million in the 2024 budget.

In a written statement, County Commission Chair Mary Kuney said the adopted budget prioritizes public safety, financial stability and efficient government services.

The nearly $865 million is the combined total of all of the county’s funds, Simmons said.

The commissioners approved using more than $15 million of the county’s mental health sales tax proceeds next year to operate its mental health court, the county’s Initiative for Student Wellness in local schools and behavioral health transitional housing.

Another $7 million is being put toward the county’s effort to expand the regional stabilization and crisis center, which, at present, is only accessible through contact with law enforcement. The tax proceeds make up nearly half of the $15 million set aside for the expansion of the center, which has also received funding from settlements related to lawsuits with opiate manufacturers and distributors.

“Because of the lack of sobering beds that we have in the county today, commissioners were really intentional about setting some dollars aside with the opioid funds to bolster up our accessible beds for sobering,” Simmons said.

The tax also will be used to fund one of a few new programs next year, a co-responder pilot program championed by Commissioner Chris Jordan, that will pair a behavioral health expert with Spokane Fire EMTs responding to mental health calls.

“I hear regularly from officers that so many of the calls they respond to are driven by drug addiction and untreated mental health issues,” Jordan said in June when the commissioners approved the program. “By boosting the number of first responders trained to deal with behavioral health issues on the streets and in the field, I believe we are easing the pressure on law enforcement, local emergency departments and the justice system.”

On the often-related issue of homelessness, the commissioners have set aside $9.9 million for affordable housing projects and programs, and $7.4 million for homelessness prevention, street outreach and emergency shelter services.

Next year’s general fund budget of $264 million, the county’s main operating fund, has slightly decreased year over year. Public safety costs are the greatest expenditure for the account, with a combined total of $128.4 million going towards the Sheriff’s Office and county jails.

Included in that planned spending is more compensation for the county’s public defenders and prosecutors, as well as $3 million for a renovation of the detention center behind the Spokane County Courthouse that will expand its capacity, Simmons said.

The remodel is a response to ongoing capacity issues. Local law enforcement agencies had to contend with repeated “red light warnings” this year, a period in which deputies and officers will wait for hours at a time to enter the facility with new detainees because there’s no space. Simmons said the project is still in the preliminary phases, and that the funding is an earmark until a more exact estimate of the cost is known.

“This is an effort for us to look at our existing facilities to see if we could do some remodeling to allow us to have additional space, additional beds,” Simmons said.

County Commissioner Amber Waldref said she was glad to see the increased investments in recruiting and retaining county attorneys, after both the prosecutor’s and public defender’s office told the commissioner it would help fill vacant positions and keep the county competitive with other municipalities across the state.

Waldref said the county is already seeing the benefits of their investments, with all but two public defender vacancies filled since the commissioners increased pay and hours for county attorneys earlier this year.

“I’m happy that the investments we’re making are filling out those very important positions in our criminal justice and public safety, priorities of our community,” Waldref said. “If we don’t have public defenders, we end up having to contract out at work, which actually costs more to the county.”

Waldref also looks forward to the capital projects planned for next year, which is the only fund that grew year over year. The county budgeted more than $58 million for improvements to local roadways, parks and more, compared to roughly $55 million in 2024.

“Our community and those that visit our community are going to see even greater parks and recreational opportunities, which is really outstanding,” Waldref said.

The county is expecting to spend around $6.5 million to build a new park on the West Plains, $7 million to renovate the Plante’s Ferry Sports Complex and $500,000 to complete an ongoing project at John H. Shields Park. That’s in addition to work that got underway this summer at both Bear Lake and Liberty Lake regional parks.

County Commissioner Al French first began lobbying for Shields Park years ago, and said it’s part of his ongoing efforts to develop and improve the quality of life on the West Plains.

As for road projects, the budget includes $2.9 million set aside for the second phase of reconstruction to Hatch Road in Mead, $1.2 million for a roundabout at Wellesley and Appleway avenues in Otis Orchards, and $3.8 million for the replacement of the Little Spokane Drive Bridge.

The commissioners said county staff were instrumental in achieving a balanced budget, particularly under some strenuous circumstances.

French said he would have liked to have gotten through the process without an increase in property taxes, referencing an earlier vote by Jordan, Waldref and Kuney to raise taxes by 1% next year for an expected extra cost of $3 annually for the average county homeowner.

“The one thing that I heard resoundingly on the campaign trail this year is that people were really stressed financially,” French said.

Simmons, Waldref and French all emphasized that the years to come will likely bring more financial challenges, and potentially more dramatic cuts.

“It was a really good exercise,” Waldref said. “But that means next year will be more challenging because we will have looked under many of the rocks, and it will be harder to balance without making other, more serious choices.”