Seven meetings in, County Council charts a budget path to November

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, July 8, 2026

San Juan County Council members are entering the next phase of a monthslong budget process, following a wave of department presentations in late June that laid bare the scale of a shortfall triggered by the defeat of a levy lid lift earlier this year.

According to County Manager Jessica Hudson, the Council has now held seven budget work sessions since the process began, with departments asked to identify possible reductions or new revenue. At a June 30 regular session, Council Chair Justin Paulsen described the June meetings as “step one in what will be a multi-step budget process going forward,” emphasizing that the direction given so far is not final.

The schedule ahead

The timeline now moves into a new phase. Budget worksheets were set to go out to non-internal service fund departments on July 6, with department responses due back to the Auditor’s Office by the end of that week. Staff must submit full budget proposals by July 15.

State law requires the County auditor to bring the Council a legally balanced budget by August, and the Council chair said that document would be officially presented on Aug. 25. From there, discussions continue through the fall, with the Council’s final budget decision — adoption of the 2027 budget — set for November.

“There is much more public conversation and public engagement to happen between today and that final decision point in November,” the chair told Council members, adding that the current phase is “an early point in public engagement, not a late point.”

Complicating the picture: during the County Council’s work session that took place the day before, County staff had also begun early conversations about 2028. “We’re still gathering a lot of information,” Council member Kari McVeigh said. “But the one time savings is helping our [2027] budget, but it is doing nothing for a [2028] budget, which is currently looking close to as bad as our [2027] budget.” Cuts made now, in other words, could compound in future years absent new revenue.

Not a department-by-department choice

A recurring theme through the process has been Council members’ insistence that the public not view the budget debate as a series of either/or tradeoffs between departments or programs.

At the June 29 work session, following a presentation on proposed public health cuts, Paulsen pushed back on how the daily rollout of department presentations might be perceived, warning against “false dichotomies being presented to the public” — the idea that residents must choose between funding one program or another. “These discussions are not this or that,” Paulsen said. “It’s all that … it’s all programs, or all … a mishmash of everything.”

Paulsen stressed that the presentations, though delivered department by department, “are not isolated by the day” but represent cuts “across the board.” The hope, they said, is that once the full financial picture comes into focus, portions of the reductions could later be restored — but no program or department is being singled out for elimination.

That framing was echoed by Council member Jane Fuller, who, at the end of a presentation by Mark Tompkins, director of San Juan County Health and Community Services, said she was impressed by this and past presentations by County Health before calling the proposed reductions “very stark” across departments and saying the process “starts getting really, really painful” as the true scope of impacts becomes clear.

Health, safety and mandated programs draw strong support

Even amid broad cuts, Council members have repeatedly signaled they intend to protect programs tied to public safety, public health and legal mandates.

Citing guidance from a state training for newly elected officials, Paulsen said, “one of the first things that you have to deal with in your county budget is public safety,” adding, “I think we have two primary duties: public safety, public health. For me, those are the two things.” Paulsen specifically supported keeping vacant public safety positions funded and actively recruited rather than eliminated, citing the difficulty of hiring in the islands.

Sheriff Eric Peter was present at the meeting and presented a list of state-mandated functions for the Sheriff’s Office — including making arrests, executing court orders, operating the County’s sex assault tracking system and offender database, and providing court security — underscoring duties the office cannot decline. Similarly, the Auditor’s Office detailed finance and budget responsibilities mandated under state law (RCW) and the County charter, along with payroll duties governed primarily by federal regulation, and the County’s Department of Emergency Management outlined both state and federal requirements tied to its mission, along with obligations attached to federal funding.

A courthouse security staffing position was also flagged for continued support after officials noted it is written into the County’s courthouse security plan and works directly with the courts. Council members directed staff to correct that position’s job title to better reflect its safety-related duties, but signaled no intention of cutting the role itself.

As the Council heads toward the Aug. 25 balanced budget presentation, officials say further public input opportunities will continue, with the November budget adoption representing the final decision point in a process they’ve stressed remains fluid and unfinished heading into fall.