Thurston County officially amended its 2026-27 budget on Tuesday, June 2, to restore substantial funding to the county clerk’s office.
The budget amendment passed by the Thurston County Board of Commissioners restores $197,891 to the Thurston County Clerk’s Office in 2026 and $202,008 in 2027 to fund two judicial proceeding specialists, also known as court clerks, who are tasked with processing court filings and handing other case management responsibilities.
The amended budget also restores $82,606 to the clerk’s office in 2026 and $68,639 in 2027 to fund front-line public counter services on a part-time basis.
Those services shut down on Jan. 20 in response to the county reducing the clerk’s office’s budget by $777,478 for the 2026-27 biennium.
Thurston County announced May 20 that it had found a way to reallocate some money within the 2026-27 budget to the clerk’s office.
“The board remains focused on finding budgetary solutions that restore vital in-person services to our residents — if on a modified or incremental basis,” Chair of the Board of County Commissioners Tye Menser said in a May 20 news release. “We recognize that implementing these changes requires working through operational and administrative details, but the necessary funding framework is now in place and ready to support this service priority.”
The budget amendment passed by the Thurston County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday accounts for “revenue and expenditures which are now identified,” but were not known to the county when the budget was initially adopted in January 2025.
After tallying up all of the changes to revenue and expenditures, the general fund sees an expenditure increase of about $2.96 million for 2026, as well as an expenditure decrease of about $4.36 million for 2027.
All other funds for 2026 are increased by a collective total of $82.71 million, and all other funds for 2027 are increased by a collective total of $34.02 million.
The changes are the results of county offices and departments submitting their needs for current operations, and reflect “new grants, unforeseen expenses and increased funding for capital projects,” according to the county.
In addition to restoring some funding to the clerk’s office, the budget amendment restores an estimated $65,000 to Thurston County Juvenile Court in 2026, and an additional $125,000 in 2027, for a probation counselor position.
That funding specifically comes from a state Administrative Office of the Courts “Becca” grant to help cover the costs of truancy petitions in juvenile court.
The exact grant amount of which will be finalized later this month.
The county’s budget amendment stipulates that if the grant amount ends up being less than what was included in the amendment, the county won’t fill the gap, and will issue another amendment to adjust the numbers accordingly.
Thurston County Juvenile Court had its budget reduced by $1.18 million in the 2026-27 budget.
The budget amendment passed on Tuesday additionally shifts $3.5 million allocated for jurisdictional court services out of the county’s general fund into a newly established Jurisdictional Court Services Fund.
That fund consolidates the money Thurston County receives from other governments who contract with Thurston County for court services, such as the cities of Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater, Tenino and Rainier.
The revenue in that fund is strictly restricted to providing court services for those jurisdictions.
Lastly, the budget amendment grants the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office the authority to accept its portion of a $100,000 grant from the Nisqually Tribe.
The Nisqually Tribe awarded the funding in July 2025 to Thurston County, the town of Bucoda and the cities of Rainier, Tenino and Yelm for a joint application for Flock Safety cameras. The funding was divided up by jurisdiction, with Thurston County receiving $75,000, Yelm receiving $15,001, and the other three jurisdictions each receiving $3,333.
Since receiving the award, Thurston County Sheriff’s Office has indicated it will not use the money to pursue a Flock contract. Instead, the sheriff’s office will put the funds towards making its recently-acquired helicopter airworthy.
The full budget amendment is included in the Board of County Commissioners’ agenda packet for its regular June 2 meeting.
