Spokane County Commission passes $983 million 2026 budget, prioritizing funding for public safety while cutting more than 100 positions

Spokane County is cutting 120 jobs in next year’s tight budget, but most of the positions already are empty.

The county commission voted unanimously in a special meeting Monday to approve a $983 million budget for 2026 that members of the board said prioritizes the county services and responsibilities the public counts on, including maintaining and improving county roadways and the regional criminal justice system.

The budget will grow by about $120 million from this year’s $864.8 million budget. But that increase mostly is the result of one-time projects.

Jeff McMorris, senior director of finance for the county, said only five of the 120 cut positions were filled.

“We’re trying to get the budget more realistic, too, if the position is not going to be filled in a year, let’s just not have it in the budget,” McMorris told the commissioners Monday. “We’ll add it back when needed.”

The decision to fund around 1,875 full -time positions brings county staffing levels to their lowest since before the pandemic. In 2019, Spokane County Commissioners funded 1,993.6 full-time positions. Staffing levels rose to a peak of 2,115.2 in 2024 before falling by roughly 200 positions for 2025, according to county records.

McMorris said most of the positions were lost through attrition, which happened to benefit the county’s difficult financial year.

Some positions were never reposted after the former staffer quit or retired, and other unfilled positions were dissolved and had associated responsibilities divided up and reassigned.

“It might not be ideal, but in tough times, it’s a way to save some funds,” McMorris said.

Commissioner Chris Jordan said while he was disappointed to not be able to fund some positions, like a guardian ad litem for juvenile courts, he was pleased to maintain staffing levels in the medical examiner’s office, detention services, the prosecutor’s office and the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office .

“We were also able to protect what limited classes and programs we do have in the jail, including breaking barriers, opioid awareness, parenting classes, some re-entry support, which helps reduce reoffenses when inmates come from the jail back into the community,” Jordan said. “I think that’s important for public safety.”

Commissioner Josh Kerns, vice chair of the commission, said county residents likely won’t see or feel any impact from the staff reductions. The county cut positions that had long stretching vacancies, and the commissioners directed departments to be “realistic” in their requests for funding.

“When I say realistic, that’s kind of realistic across the board: realistic on how much money your department needs to function, what services can you realistically not deliver, because you know they’re discretionary and not state mandated,” Kerns said. “What can you realistically provide with the dollar amounts that you’re requesting?”

Labor is one of the county’s greatest expenses, and has grown significantly. Meanwhile, revenues lagged behind what county bookkeepers projected over the last two years, leading to an expected $20 million deficit heading into 2026.

The commissioners opted to close that gap by asking all county department heads to identify 7% worth of cuts to their individual budgets, which is roughly the rate at which county costs are growing. A slight rebound in tax revenues toward the end of the year, including $1.4 billion in new developments contributing to property tax levies, also helped make up the deficit, McMorris said.

“We made, I think, some really good strategic choices to keep our systems going, but also to think about what constituents are looking for in terms of the amenities that we do offer here in Spokane County,” said Commissioner Amber Waldref.

Commissioner Al French said the county’s rising costs are primarily driven by changes made at the state level, whether it’s the Washington Legislature or the state Supreme Court. The latter enacted new caseload standards for public defenders that will require additional staff and funding to fill those positions, which represents a large portion of the county’s additional investments in public safety.

The public defense standards will send a “ripple effect” throughout an already strained court system, French said.

“I just really want to make this point for the audience that this dramatic climb in expenses is not a result of bad decisions being made by the Board of County Commissioners,” French said. “It’s bad decisions, quite frankly, being made at the state level and Supreme Court that we have to fund and we have to find solutions for.”

Jordan, the lone attorney on the board, agreed that despite their best efforts, the regional court system will still be under a lot of pressure.

“Public defense is going to continue to be an area of increasing need that we’re going to need to keep working on,” Jordan said. “The budget is a guide, and I think it’s a good plan for the year.”

While it represented the lion’s share of the commission’s investments, public safety was not the sole area the commissioners prioritized funding.

McMorris noted more than $80 million in various funds dedicated to community support initiatives centered around housing, addiction treatment and mental health, including $15 million towards the Spokane Regional Stabilization Center at Gardner Avenue and Cedar Street.

“I just point that out because sometimes I read in the press we’re not doing our part,” McMorris said, referring to the county as “we.”

“And you always do more, and we can always do more, but we do a significant amount here.”

Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown has criticized other local governments for not doing enough to address homelessness.

The county commissioners have said the investment in the facility will greatly bolster the region’s ability to assist individuals experiencing a mental health crisis or struggling with substance abuse, as previously reported by The Spokesman-Review.

Like the staffing cuts, McMorris said there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to the $100 million year over year rise in the budget. He said $12 million comes through funding set aside earlier for a one-time purchase of a property tax management software called “Aumentum.” It will be used by the treasurer and assessor’s offices, as well as to support “every taxing jurisdiction within Spokane County,” said budget and financial operations manager Tessa Sheldon. The $12 million one-time purchase will be made using funding set aside previously to replace systems in place since the ’90s.

There’s also funding in the 2026 budget dedicated to an overhaul of the county campus and operating systems, two key projects in understanding the $100 million rise year over year.

“We have to increase our budget to have authority to spend our savings account,” McMorris said. “So we’re essentially taking that out of a savings account instead of revenue from 2026.”

The largest of Spokane County’s capital investments, $25 million, is dedicated to required efficiency improvements to county buildings tied to Washington’s Clean Buildings Act. The law, which lawmakers passed in 2019 in hopes of reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, established a set of efficiency standards for buildings larger than 20,000 square feet.

Spokane County will be required to increase the energy efficiency of several large buildings, including the courthouse and jail. The projected cost climbs to $45 million with all work included, and the county is in the midst of selling bonds to help finance it.

The bonds, and the projected cost, are both counted in the total due to federal bookkeeping policies, meaning the money is counted twice, Sheldon said. That $90 million represents most of the increase in the budget.

“There’s a lot of rules about keeping those funds separate and isolated until they’re spent on an appropriate expense,” Sheldon said.

The major road projects that received funding and are expected to be completed over the coming years are a realignment of Craig Road and addition of a roundabout at the street’s Thorp Road intersection to the tune of $4.5 million, a $2.1 million repaving of Market Street and the installation of roundabouts at the intersections of Wellesley and Appleway avenues and Bruce and Peone roads for $.15 and $1.6 million, respectively.

Kerns said passing a balanced budget without increasing property taxes was only made possible through a “team effort.” Staff identified the projected shortfall in March, which allowed the commissioners and department heads to begin strategizing on how to close the gap much earlier than when the typical budget process starts.

Chair Mary Kuney echoed his sentiments. It was a “tough budget year,” that is likely to be followed by another.

“I think we came through with a balanced budget that we can all feel we did the best we could to make everything happen,” Kuney said. “Yes, there were more requests than revenue to fund those requests, but I think we did a great job in really coming together to keep it a conservative budget for our citizens, but focusing on the responsibilities we have of public safety and the services that our citizens want.”