EVERETT — The Snohomish County Sheriff is reducing overtime hours, prioritizing hiring and retention and working to boost revenue with a new sales tax to help counteract $14.9 million of projected spending over the Corrections department’s biennial budget.
Sheriff Susanna Johnson presented her plan to the County Council on Oct. 21, which included a 0.1% sales tax made possible by state legislation passed this year.
In August, Johnson presented to the council and partly blamed a collective bargaining agreement that included a new 2.25 overtime multiplier for which the department received no additional funds, she said at the time.
Through June 2025, 64% of Corrections’ total overtime budget went to paying the 2.25 multiplier, Johnson said Oct. 21. The increased overtime was due to the regional academies’ focus on training law enforcement personnel rather than corrections deputies, resulting in staffing shortages.
“All of a sudden, with the regional academies, that backlog opened up,” Johnson said during the presentation. “So we had really large classes — the largest classes we’d ever seen. We had nine corrections deputies at one and six at another.”
As more deputies finished training and began work, overtime hours and costs decreased, Johnson said.
From January to August, overtime hours averaged 8,874 per month, with average costs of $835,000. During September, those numbers went down to 7,224 hours and $656,000, Johnson’s said.
“This is just a snapshot of September,” she said. “I would not be honest if I sat here and told you this was going to be the new normal. I can tell you we’ve identified some things, we’re making changes and it looks optimistic, but I never know what next year will bring.”
Before these reductions, the Sheriff’s Office requested about $7 million for the total biennial budget to help balance the department’s overtime spending, Finance Manager Dawn Cicero said.
Also, starting in January, the Sheriff’s Office will reorganize resources to prioritize hiring, recruiting and retention, Johnson said.
“One bureau to focus on the hiring and recruiting and a new division to focus on our training, mentoring, wellness and retention,” she said. “With existing resources and no additional cost.”
She hopes to keep employees from leaving for places “where the cost of living is cheaper or the pay is higher,” Johnson said.
To help balance spending, the Sheriff’s Office is expecting a cost-of-living adjustment of more than $3.2 million to support wage increases in 2026, Johnson said.
The county sets aside estimated COLA funding in a nondepartmental fund outside the general budget to disburse once union contracts are signed, spokesperson Kari Bray told The Herald in August.
“Even though it is a biennial budget, not all the money coming to the Sheriff’s Office is appearing yet,” Johnson said on Tuesday. She expects the money in the middle of 2026.
To boost revenue, the Sheriff’s Office plans to apply for a state Public Safety Funding Program passed into law this year, Johnson said. Qualifying cities and counties can apply for part of $100 million and impose a new 0.1% sales-and-use tax to fund certain public safety efforts.
“We’re all in on that,” Johnson said. “They have set new barriers and hurdles, and there will be work to be done, but we’re up for it. We’re going to do the work.”
The grant can be used to support hiring, training and retaining officers, the program’s website says. The sales tax can only be used for criminal justice purposes, such as domestic violence services, public defenders, diversion and reentry programs, programs to reduce homelessness and improve behavioral health and more.
To qualify for both a grant and the sales tax, agencies must implement certain policies and practices, including use-of-force and de-escalation practices, crisis intervention training, and trauma-informed, gender-based violence interviewing training, among other requirements, according to state law.
The Sheriff’s Office does not yet have a total projected savings figure, Cicero said.
Taylor Scott Richmond: 425-339-3046; taylor.richmond@heraldnet.com; X: @BTayOkay
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