The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department is operating on the largest budget in its history and, after more than a year of stalled negotiations, its deputies have won a substantial pay raise through binding arbitration. Both developments land at the same time, and both are aimed at the same stubborn problem: a staffing shortage that county leaders, the sheriff, and the deputies’ union all agree has stretched patrol coverage thin across Pierce County’s rural and suburban reaches.
Here is what the public record shows about the money, the vacancies, and the fight over deputy pay heading into the summer of 2026.
A record budget built around public safety
When the Pierce County Council adopted its 2026-2027 biennial budget, it funded the Sheriff’s Office at the highest level the department has ever seen. Including the Corrections Bureau, the office’s two-year budget is roughly $406 million, an increase of about $25.7 million over the prior biennium, according to county budget documents and reporting by Gig Harbor Now.
That figure reflects a broader county priority. Public safety accounts for roughly 77 percent of Pierce County’s general spending, and the Sheriff’s Office and its Corrections Bureau consume more than 40 percent of that public safety share. In other words, no single function commands more of the county’s discretionary dollars than the sheriff and the jail.
Yet a bigger budget has not, by itself, put more deputies on the road. County officials have been candid that the new money was structured to first stabilize the existing workforce before adding new positions, a sequencing decision that shaped much of the past year’s debate.
The vacancy problem, by the numbers
According to the arbitration ruling issued this spring, the Sheriff’s Office had 40 vacant deputy positions at the beginning of March 2026. That is not a small gap for an agency responsible for unincorporated Pierce County, where patrol detachments cover the Gig Harbor Peninsula, the Foothills, the Mountain detachment, and other rural areas that can sit far from the nearest available unit.
The shortage did not appear overnight. During the 2024-2025 budget cycle, the county eliminated 21.9 full-time-equivalent positions, all of them vacant at the time, a move that trimmed the payroll on paper but left the department with fewer funded slots to grow back into. Councilmember Dave Morell summarized the longer arc bluntly, noting that in his time on the council, “we’ve never filled our positions.”
To keep minimum staffing on every shift, the agency has leaned heavily on mandatory overtime, a practice that union leaders argue accelerates burnout and pushes experienced deputies toward the exits. Before the contract was settled, the guild reported that roughly 11 additional deputies were already planning to leave.
Why deputies were leaving
The central driver, the guild argued throughout negotiations, was pay. Deputies’ wages were reported to be 30 to 35 percent behind the Tacoma Police Department, and most departments in the county started new officers at least $5 an hour higher than Pierce County. Neighboring Clark County’s starting pay ran about 12 percent above Pierce. A qualified Pierce County deputy, the union contended, could earn as much as 30 percent more simply by transferring to another agency, a dynamic deputies described as a “death spiral” of departures.
Inside the arbitration award
Contract talks between County Executive Ryan Mello’s office and the Pierce County Deputy Sheriffs’ Independent Guild, Local 1889, dragged on for more than a year before reaching binding interest arbitration. The two sides were far apart. The county’s offer landed around 6.5 percent over three years, while the guild sought 25 percent over the same period. In a June membership vote, deputies rejected an earlier county offer by a margin of 290 to 1.
The arbitrator’s decision, reported in early May 2026, awarded deputies roughly 15.8 percent over three years, covering January 2025 through January 2027 and including back pay. That is more than double what county leaders had put on the table. The award also added education incentives, 2 percent for an associate’s degree and 4 percent for a bachelor’s degree, and allowed deputies to accrue up to 80 hours of compensatory time for overtime.
The arbitrator did not frame pay as the only issue. The ruling concluded that while wages were not the sole retention problem, “the simple fact” was that the county’s compensation offer was insufficient and would hinder recruitment and retention. The decision pointed to testimony from the department’s recruiting staff that candidates had withdrawn from the hiring process citing the financial gap with other agencies.
Sgt. Shaun Darby, president of the guild, called the award a substantial increase, especially for new recruits, while cautioning that it does not solve the entire staffing and retention picture. “It’s a start,” he said.
The recruiting and retention push
Money settled in arbitration is only one lever. The Sheriff’s Office has paired the new wage scale with an aggressive package of hiring and retention incentives, including:
- A $10,000 hiring incentive for entry-level deputy sheriff and corrections deputy new hires.
- A $25,000 incentive for lateral deputy and lateral corrections deputy hires who come in with prior experience.
- A $12,000 incentive for corrections deputies converting to the deputy sheriff track.
- A $5,000 referral bonus.
- A one-time $5,000 retention bonus, approved in December 2025, for deputies with at least 90 days of service, totaling about $1.5 million.
Undersheriff Cyndie Fajardo has described recruiting as “a national endeavor,” reflecting how widely the agency is casting for candidates in a market where every Washington department is competing for the same pool. The department has also signaled it is investing in a marketing program it believes will meaningfully lift the number of applicants who give Pierce County a serious look.
What happens next on staffing
The Sheriff’s Office had asked the council to restore 12 deputy positions and two patrol sergeants assigned to swing shifts, the slots most directly tied to filling out thin rural and overnight coverage. For now, leadership is deferring those additions until existing vacancies are filled, reasoning that authorizing positions the department cannot staff would not put more deputies on the street.
The council, for its part, held off finalizing the staffing side of the budget until the union contract was resolved, since labor costs drive the math on how many positions the county can sustainably fund. With arbitration now concluded, council members including Robyn Denson, who has pressed the case that “all of our rural detachments are very low-staffed,” have signaled a willingness to revisit the staffing request through a budget amendment.
The open question is whether the new pay scale and incentives slow the departures enough to let recruiting gain ground. Det. Sgt. Brad Van Dyke and the background and recruiting unit now have a more competitive offer to make, but hiring, backgrounding, and academy training take many months, meaning the staffing relief, if it comes, will arrive gradually rather than all at once.
The bottom line
Pierce County has put record dollars behind its Sheriff’s Office and, through arbitration, closed a meaningful share of the pay gap that deputies blamed for the exodus. Whether that combination reverses the staffing slide will not be clear until the next round of hiring numbers comes in. For residents in the county’s rural detachments, the practical measure is simpler than any budget line: how long it takes for a deputy to arrive when they call.
Related Reading
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Frequently Asked Questions
How big is the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department budget for 2026-2027?
The Sheriff’s Office, including its Corrections Bureau, is funded at roughly $406 million for the 2026-2027 biennium, an increase of about $25.7 million over the previous two-year budget. County officials have called it the largest budget in the department’s history.
How many deputy positions are vacant in Pierce County?
According to the spring 2026 arbitration ruling, the Sheriff’s Office had 40 vacant deputy positions at the beginning of March 2026. The department has relied on mandatory overtime to maintain minimum staffing across its patrol detachments.
What pay raise did Pierce County deputies receive?
A binding arbitration award reported in early May 2026 granted deputies roughly 15.8 percent over three years, covering January 2025 through January 2027 with back pay. The union had sought 25 percent; the county had offered about 6.5 percent.
What hiring incentives is the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office offering?
The office is offering a $10,000 incentive for entry-level deputy and corrections deputy hires, $25,000 for lateral hires with prior experience, $12,000 for corrections deputies converting to deputy sheriff, a $5,000 referral bonus, and a one-time $5,000 retention bonus for deputies with at least 90 days of service.
Why has Pierce County struggled to keep deputies?
The deputies’ guild attributed departures largely to pay. Pierce County wages were reported to be 30 to 35 percent behind the Tacoma Police Department, and deputies could often earn significantly more by transferring to neighboring agencies. The arbitrator found the county’s compensation offer insufficient to support recruitment and retention.
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