Story by Rodger Nichols for Gorge Country Media
As Klickitat County heads deeper into budget season, Klickitat County Sheriff Bob Songer has stepped up his campaign for more funding for his department. He told commissioners at yesterday’s meeting that the county has not funded a new deputy position in 20 years, while the population has doubled and the crime rate increased.
“And I know a lot of these other agencies need help, too. I’m not denying that. What the problem is, all these agencies, that if they’re short of staff, they’re not going to get injured or killed. That’s the reality of it.”
Failure to fund his department to the level he considers adequate, he said, could have consequences.
“We are looking right now — and I don’t want to do this, God forbid — We are looking right now at cutting services for our citizens. Only respond to in-progress crimes. Now there’s going to be a lot of pushback on that, but I don’t have a choice. I have to maintain a budget – balanced budget – and I have to maintain safety for our citizen and our officers.”
Later, when asked what was the one piece of information they most wanted to make sure gets out to the public from the meeting, Commissioner Lori Zoller responded this way:
“The sheriff’s budget. And it’s very clear, following the money, that there was an amount that was funded in the budget for 2025 that needed to be realigned. It was there, it was available, but it just needed to be moved officially from one bars numbered to another, and these commissioners did that. And along with that, they gave an extra $80,000 towards payroll.”
Commissioner Ron Ihrig said that the important thing he wanted the public to know is that the board has agreed to disagree and that whether the public agrees with the board or not, they are trying to move forward.