Pretrial Services officials told the Spokane County Board of County Commissioners on Sept. 29 that the unit runs on a small staff and that a proposed personnel reduction would affect weekend operations and court timelines.

The department said it operates seven days a week, 363 days a year, from a general‑fund budget of $1,186,000 and currently has about 11.5 full‑time employees paid from the general fund. The office conducts first‑appearance evaluations and indigency screenings for both superior and district courts, prepares criminal history checks and operates monitored‑release and felony diversion programs that supervise roughly 160 and 110–115 participants, respectively.

Commissioners heard that one personnel reduction under consideration to meet 2026 budget targets would convert a full‑time pretrial officer to an 80 percent position, producing approximately $16,960 in savings. Pretrial staff said that change would likely reduce weekend staffing from two officers to one and force triage of which weekend cases would be evaluated and which would wait until Monday. The department warned that could reduce the number of reports judges receive on weekends and delay indigency screenings by about 24 hours in some cases.

Pretrial staff additionally described technology and program pressures. They said the department is using an in‑house software application created in about 2005 that is labor intensive to extract statistics from and that staff are exploring alignment with software used by other Washington pretrial agencies. The department also is implementing work required by a MacArthur capstone grant and has reintroduced a supported‑release program in district court; staff said those initiatives have required training and staff time.

Officials emphasized a change in arraignment rules that shortens the screening timeline to about three days — down from about 14 days previously — increasing the operational urgency of timely indigency screenings.

Commissioners asked about alternatives and the potential downstream costs of reduced evaluations, including additional nights in the jail and larger Monday dockets. Pretrial staff said reduced weekend evaluations could increase overtime in other departments and transport costs because more people could remain in custody longer.

No formal vote or final decision was recorded during the presentation. Commissioners and staff discussed potential paths forward, including preserving the position if other savings can be found and pursuing an off‑the‑shelf case‑management product with county IT support.

Ending: The board did not adopt a final budget action for Pretrial Services during the Sept. 29 workshop; staff were directed to continue working with IT and budget staff on software options and to return with additional information if further buyback requests or alternatives are identified.