Pasco officials are considering roughly $14.4 million in general fund cuts that could eliminate 55 city positions, including a fifth of the police department's staff, as the city tries to close a budget gap that keeps growing year over year.
The proposal, first reported by the Tri-City Herald, would cut 22 positions from the Pasco Police Department, 15 from the Fire Department and 18 from other city departments. That amounts to a 20% staffing cut for police and 15% for fire. The reductions would come on top of 26 full-time positions already frozen citywide. "This number adds to the 26 full-time positions that were already frozen," the city said in its public explanation of the proposals.
In dollar terms, the city is recommending about $5.3 million in cuts from the police department, $2.2 million from fire and another $6.5 million from other general fund departments, according to the Herald. Police are considering a revised patrol schedule designed to keep the same number of officers on duty at any given moment despite having fewer total positions — though it's not yet clear how that would affect response times or which areas of the city would see changed coverage.
The cuts under discussion also include closing community programs and facilities and eliminating city-sponsored events, though a full list of specific sites hadn't been detailed in reporting as of this week.
A gap that keeps widening
This isn't Pasco's first round of budget pain this year. Earlier reporting from AppleValleyNewsNow put the shortfall at more than $10.5 million, prompting the council to discuss a possible November ballot measure for a transportation benefit district and a library annexation that would raise property taxes. The city's 2025-26 biennial budget already proposed cutting the weekly farmers market entertainment and the Veterans Day parade, along with other police department resource cuts, as the Herald reported in an earlier story. That earlier budget also baked in about $9.7 million in reserve spending and what the city called "lean strategies" — essentially drawing down savings as a stopgap rather than solving the underlying imbalance.
Since then, the hole has grown. City forecasts now show a 2027 gap of roughly $12.8 million and a 2028 gap of about $16.5 million, according to a follow-up report from AppleValleyNewsNow. Councilmember Leo Perales has pointed to a root cause: the city hired roughly 100 additional employees in recent years without adequate planning for how to keep paying for those positions. At an earlier budget discussion, Perales put the stakes bluntly: "All I see is a less safe, less fun Pasco."
Property tax levy decision looms too
Separately, city staff are recommending Pasco take the full 1% property tax levy increase allowed under state law for 2027, which would generate about $152,500 in additional revenue, according to another Herald report. Finance Director Kevin Hebdon has said that if the council declines to take the increase now, that taxing capacity could be "banked" for a future council to use later — meaning the option wouldn't disappear, just get deferred.
Several questions remain open, including the exact date the council will vote on or hold a public hearing on the new $14.4 million package, whether the job cuts would hit filled positions or simply eliminate long-vacant ones, and whether any new revenue — from the levy, a ballot measure or elsewhere — could shrink the cut list before final adoption. The city's agenda packets at pasco.civicweb.net are expected to carry the specifics as the proposal moves forward.
