Local governments on both sides of the Atlantic are staring down the barrel of daunting budget deficits, with officials warning that deep spending cuts could dramatically reshape the public services residents rely on. In Conwy County, Wales, and Thurston County, Washington, leaders are wrestling with the grim arithmetic of shrinking revenues, rising costs, and the need to maintain essential services in the face of unprecedented financial pressures.
In Conwy County, the scale of the challenge became clear on September 21, 2024, when the council’s finance chief, Andrew Kirkham, revealed a £4.3 million deficit, a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic. As reported by Jez Hemming, Kirkham told a special meeting of the finance and resources scrutiny committee that the authority needed “some sort of spending review” to manage the uncertainty surrounding reimbursements from the Welsh Government for lost income and additional pandemic-related expenditures. He emphasized the difficulty of making cuts to critical departments, noting, “cutting services to vital departments like social services during the pandemic was counter-intuitive.” Still, he stressed the necessity of reviewing spending to safeguard against potential cash shortfalls.
The council’s reserves offered little comfort. Of the total £11 million in reserves, only £2.3 million remained unallocated. “We have to start looking at our reserves and balances,” Kirkham said. “Quite a lot of authorities haven’t got reserves and balances to the extent they’re needed – that includes us.” The council’s financial woes were compounded by public sector pay rises, which added £900,000 to the pressure, with no expectation of recouping that sum from the Welsh Government. Meanwhile, over £1.5 million in budget cuts agreed upon in March 2020 had yet to be delivered, and the council tax reduction scheme—designed to help low-income residents—was set to cost the authority an extra £1 million in the current financial year.
While the Welsh Government had provided just under £7.4 million in aid out of more than £8.6 million claimed for pandemic-related expenditures and income losses, the council still faced a guaranteed shortfall of £180,000, not to mention an unresolved £857,000 claim for lost income in the first quarter. Nearly £1 million of the estimated deficit was attributed to the risk that the Welsh Government would not cover all pandemic-related losses. As Kirkham put it, “Every person, every business is facing extreme uncertainty and Conwy is no different at all.”
Welsh Government directives required all councils to offset losses through expenditure reductions, prompting Conwy to find savings in areas like production costs at Venue Cymru, as well as travel, utilities, and other operational expenses. The council also claimed £893,000 in furlough payments between April and July 2024, during which around 300 staff positions were temporarily suspended. Yet, the overall financial settlement for the year was the second-worst in Wales, forcing council departments to seek £8.3 million in cuts across the board.
Across the Atlantic in Thurston County, Washington, officials are facing a similarly stark reality. On September 17, 2025, county leaders warned the Board of County Commissioners that proposed spending cuts would significantly hinder public services. Each department was tasked with finding ways to cut about 26% from their general fund allocations—a move driven by a ballooning structural deficit that reached an estimated $23.8 million in 2025 and is expected to widen without decisive action.
The causes of Thurston County’s deficit are familiar: rising costs associated with a growing population, inflation, and unfunded mandates from state and federal governments. Yet, the county’s options for raising revenue are severely limited. The general fund receives just 8% of incoming property taxes, and state law restricts counties from increasing property tax rates by more than 1% annually. The county is considering a ballot measure to increase the property tax rate up to 6%, but such a measure cannot be prepared before the end of the year, leaving budget cuts as the only immediate option.
During an all-day meeting at The Atrium in Olympia, department heads presented worst-case scenarios that underscored the potential severity of the cuts. Ben Miller-Todd, Director of Emergency Services, described a scenario in which his department would lose 87% of its staff to meet a reduction target of $633,528. “In our first scenario, I’m not being hyperbolic here, it effectively dismantles Emergency Management,” Miller-Todd said. County documents indicated this would lead to a 90% reduction in the level of service for preparedness, response coordination, recovery efforts, and mitigation of future disasters. County Manager Leonard Hernandez acknowledged, “this was not a doable scenario,” but said the exercise was necessary to understand the stakes.
Elected officials pushed back against the proposed cuts. Assessor Steven Drew warned that a 42% staff cut would cripple his office and make it impossible to meet all statutory obligations, leading to inaccurate tax bases and a breakdown in essential services. “It would be impossible to meet all statutory obligations, leading to an inaccurate tax base, increased taxpayer appeals and a breakdown in essential services that are foundational to the county’s financial stability,” Drew stated in a document provided to the board.
Sheriff Derek Sanders said his office would have to lay off 38 deputy sheriff full-time positions to meet the $5.6 million reduction target, reducing the number of deputies per 1,000 people to 0.53—the lowest in the state. “Twenty-five deputies would be laid off, if we stopped hiring today, which would include every single experienced lateral that we’ve hired over the last few years,” Sanders said. In this scenario, deputies would only respond to violent felonies, domestic violence, and significant traffic issues, while all other 911 calls would be referred online. Sanders also suggested that the county might have to sell the new Sheriff’s Office headquarters, purchased for $14.25 million earlier in the year, due to reduced staff needs.
The corrections division would not escape unscathed. Sanders said the required $7.7 million cut would mean losing 66 correction deputies, shrinking jail capacity from 390 to 98 by closing dorms and operating only as a maximum-security unit. Only those accused of the most serious crimes would be booked into jail.
The courts, too, sounded the alarm. John Skinder, presiding judge for Thurston County Superior Court, said there was “no way” to reach the reduction target without causing case delays, increased costs, and greater risks to victims. “I think any cuts to the court system make it so there will be more costs that are caused by the ripple effect of when that happens,” Skinder said. District Court presiding judge Brett Buckley echoed these concerns, warning that ongoing underfunding would force the court to dismiss cases for speedy trial violations due to backlogs.
The Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, facing a 43% reduction in its criminal prosecution division, would be unable to file about 2,500 cases, increasing crime risks and prolonging trauma for victims. “Based on our past experience on pandemic trends, crime likely rises if prosecution capacity is reduced,” said Chief of Staff Christy Peters. The Public Defense Department, meanwhile, is actually planning to hire more attorneys and support staff to meet new caseload standards set by the Washington state Supreme Court, and did not present budget cuts.
With the Board of County Commissioners required to adopt a new biennial budget by the end of 2025, public engagement is encouraged. Residents can learn more and offer feedback via the county’s website or by attending meetings at The Atrium in Olympia.
As both Conwy and Thurston Counties confront their fiscal crises, the stakes for residents are clear: the decisions made in the coming months will shape the future—and the very fabric—of local government services for years to come.