(The Center Square) – King County leaders are considering staffing cuts in order to address a $150 million budget deficit, but the sheriff’s office staffing shortage makes it more challenging to cut high-salary officers.
The Center Square received King County salary data from 2023 – the most recent year available – and found that out of 19,152 employees listed, nearly half (8,744) made more than $100,000 in salary that year.
To put that into perspective, the median King County individual income in 2023 was $60,700, meaning county employees are out-earning the average resident by 65%.
Acting King County Executive Shannon Braddock’s office defended the pay structure, saying that the county is committed to providing “competitive and fiscally responsible compensation to attract and retain top talent,” while looking for ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness.
Amy Enbysk, Braddock’s press secretary, told The Center Square that every department has been told to find cuts ahead of the next budget cycle.
King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski, who also chairs the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee, expressed cautious optimism that cuts could be avoided, adding that he is collaborating with colleagues in the county and state Legislature.
“I believe that we will,” Dembowski said to The Center Square in an email.
While county officials explore options to avoid these cuts, one department continues to see employee salaries soar: the King County Sheriff’s Office – the county’s highest-allocated department.
In the 2023 salary dataset, The Center Square counted 221 sheriff employees who made more than $200,000 in salary, largely due to sky-high overtime payouts.
One sergeant raked in $524,076 – $326,508 of that from overtime.
“Public safety salaries tend to be higher due to the challenges with filling open positions and competing with other jurisdictions that have similarly high vacancies,” Enbysk said.
King County Undersheriff Jesse Anderson explained that the department has minimum patrol staffing requirements in unincorporated areas.
“Sometimes we’re having two to three officers work overtime to meet those minimums and the reason you’re seeing some deputies have more overtime than others is because they volunteer for it,” Anderson told The Center Square in a phone call.
Last month, the department realigned staffing at its north and southeast precincts in order to fill necessary policing services.
According to Anderson, the sheriff’s office has 85 commissioned vacancies and 38 professional service vacancies as of Monday. Despite this, Anderson added that morale within the department is still high, with departures mostly stemming from sheriff deputies retiring from the force.
“While we have not had the recruiting challenges of some departments, we are still not fully staffed to the approved and funded deputy [full-time equivalent] count,” Dembowski said. “There is a balance between securing the needed services with overtime by existing employees, until it makes more economic and operational sense to hire an additional person.”
Dembowski pointed to the expansion of training facilities at the state academy as a route for the county to see positions filled more quickly to reduce overtime use. Recruiting efforts to bring qualified people to the King County Sheriff’s Office include leveraging technology to recruit through advertising and social media, outreach at colleges and career fairs.
Enbysk added that the county executive’s office is looking at new revenue tools that are under consideration by the Legislature that could help avoid cuts to public safety services amid the budget shortfall.
