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Snohomish County has seen the second most confirmed cases of coronavirus in Washington state, behind King County. joined ³ÉÈËXÕ¾ Radio’s Gee and Ursula Show to provide a general update on the impact the virus and the stay-at-home orders have had in his county.

Coronavirus has Snohomish County staring down $26 million budget shortfall

Proposed hiring freeze, budget cuts 

Recently, Somers sent out a notice that a hiring freeze and budget cuts may be coming to Snohomish County due to the businesses losses of the pandemic.

“About half of our general fund is financed through sales tax, and we know stores are shut down, know people are at home and out of work, many of them,” Somers said. “So we expect sales tax revenues to drop. We don’t know how much, but again, if there is a 20 percent drop in sales tax in the region, we’ve got to cut our budget about 10 percent this year.”

Using the 2008 recession as an example, Somers said it was a multi-year situation then and he fully expects this downturn to last for some time as well.

“The hiring freeze is just the first step,” he said. ” … I’ve got a good, strong, continuous improvement program here, but we’ll look at all our operations, look at who’s gonna be retiring and just what we can do.”

While layoffs are the last resort, Somers said, there has to be a long-term plan put in place.

Construction projects on pause

³ÉÈËXÕ¾ Radio has received a number of questions from listeners regarding construction projects. In Snohomish County, as is the case around the state, crews on public projects can continue to work but private workers are shut down.

“We’re really working under the guidelines set forth by the governor on this issue, and I know he’s got a task force looking at the construction industry to see if there’s a way that there could be a start-up or a partial start-up with some safety precautions in place,” Somers explained.

Public safety is the first priority, he said, but he does hope construction can resume again soon.

Meanwhile, Boeing employees are starting to return to work in the county.

“The work that’s going on at Boeing is related to military contracts,” Somers said. “They have put in place … precautions to allow social distancing, cleansing work stations, that sort of thing.”

“Similar to the construction industry, if work can go forward in a safe manner with social distancing and and PPE is available for everybody,I support that going forward,” he added.

Early release of inmates

Gee and Ursula also asked Executive Somers about the recent disturbance at the Monroe Correctional Facility and his thoughts on the governor’s decision to release inmates early.

“This is, as you mentioned, happening all over the country,” he said. ” … So one of the best things you can do is sort of lower the population, give people some room to socially distance themselves.”

Somers said he’s confident that safety measures have been put in place, and that public safety was considered in the state’s decisions.

“Most of the people, I think all the people being released were due for release in the near future anyway,” he said. “They have transition plans, they will be monitored. Folks that are being released will be transported back to their home counties where they came from. So we think the response was measured.”

Snohomish County concerns

In terms of Somers’ biggest concerns for his county, he worries about the people who have been impacted by the closures and for the at-risk populations.

“Obviously, there’s a lot of people that are hurting. They’re out of work, unemployed. There’s a lot of uncertainly. So, you know, I worry about folks that have trouble getting groceries. I worry about our seniors,” he said.

Somers said is he proud of the people of Snohomish County for doing their best to help flatten the curve and help others.

County health officials agree ‘there’s still a long way to go’

He recognizes that people want to get back to some sort of normal, but reiterated that the distancing measures need to remain in place for some time longer. He mentioned the need for increased testing capacity and contact tracing, which have proven successful for other countries.

“Looking way out, a vaccine is wonderful, but in the interim, we need to get some of these other things in place that we can start to loosen up and get back to a little bit more of a normal life,” Somers said. “But I just, again, I’m very proud of everybody. … We’ll get through this together, and we’ll be stronger for it.”

Listen to the Gee and Ursula Show weekday mornings from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. on ³ÉÈËXÕ¾ Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.