How Did They Let This Happen?

A decade-old contract, a $3 million annual subsidy, and a public kept in the dark

For nearly a decade, Clallam County quietly subsidized criminal justice services for Sequim and Port Angeles—by nearly $3 million per year—without required annual reviews, public disclosure, or timely contract updates. Now, after voters were asked to approve a property tax increase just last month, cities are being told they have been underpaying all along. The question isn’t whether costs went up. It’s how county commissioners allowed this to go unaddressed for years—and why voters were never told.

The Peninsula Daily News recently reported that Clallam County officials informed the cities of Sequim and Port Angeles that they have been significantly underpaying for district court, jail, prosecution, and public defender services.

The numbers are not small.

• Sequim: underpaying by approximately $230,000 per year

• Port Angeles: underpaying by approximately $2.5 million per year

Combined, that is nearly $3 million annually—money the county absorbed while contracts sat largely untouched.

The contracts in question date back 10 years and explicitly required annual reviews to identify changes, improvements, and cost adjustments. According to Sequim’s own council documents, that review did not happen for several years, until late 2025, when the county finally provided 2024 “actuals.”

That failure alone raises a fundamental governance question:

How does a contract requiring annual review go nearly a decade without one—while millions of dollars bleed out of the county budget?

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Cities Scramble—County Explains Late

Both cities are now scrambling to understand the numbers.

Sequim approved a six-month interim agreement while it hires a consultant to verify the county’s calculations. Port Angeles, facing a proposed increase of roughly $900,000 over six months, has been far more skeptical, noting it paid for services that were reduced or unavailable during the pandemic and received no reimbursement.

Port Angeles City Manager Nathan West put it plainly:

“It’s going to take some time for our entire council to understand and appreciate why the costs have increased so much.”

That confusion is understandable. What is not understandable is why this situation was allowed to develop in the first place.

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Who Was Watching the Store?

This is not a case of inexperience.

• Commissioner Mark Ozias has served since 2015

• Commissioner Randy Johnson since 2017

• Commissioner Mike French since 2023, preceded by five years on Port Angeles City Council

Collectively, the three commissioners sit on more than 60 boards and committees outside the Board of County Commissioners. Two of them—French and Johnson—also sit on the William Shore Memorial Pool board, which is currently under investigation by the state for fraud.

At a certain point, wide-ranging commitments come at the expense of focused leadership.

While contracts requiring annual review went unattended, Commissioner Ozias spent last week away at the Washington Association of Counties conferences, where he serves as president, and has already announced two upcoming trips to Washington, D.C. in January and February.

County business, meanwhile, piles up at home.

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Who Pays When the County Doesn’t Act?

Here is the most overlooked part of this story:

Most Clallam County residents do not live in cities.

Based on 2025 estimates:

• Total county population: ~78,327

• Residents in Sequim, Port Angeles, and Forks: ~31,879 (≈40.7%)

• Residents outside cities: ~46,448 (≈59.3%)

That means nearly 60% of county residents—those living in unincorporated areas—have been subsidizing city criminal justice services for years without disclosure or consent.

Just last month, those same residents were asked to voluntarily increase their property taxes by $3.75 million.

They were never told the county had already been absorbing a $3 million annual subsidy caused by neglected contracts.

That omission matters.

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A CFO, a Shift in Oversight, and No Answers

Clallam County hired its first Chief Financial Officer in 2018, around the same time longtime Chief Accountant Stan Creasey retired from the Auditor’s Office. Before that, financial oversight was split between the County Administrator and the Auditor, with no single position responsible for pulling the full picture together. The CFO role was created to do exactly that—to improve visibility, coordination, and oversight for the Board of County Commissioners.

And yet, even after that change, a nearly $3 million annual subsidy tied to outdated criminal justice contracts went unaddressed and largely undisclosed for years. That leads to an uncomfortable but reasonable question: how did a cost of this size continue without being clearly laid out for commissioners, voters, or the public—especially after the county reorganized its finances specifically to prevent blind spots like this?

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Budget Austerity for Some, Subsidies for Others

Over the past year, residents have been told:

• Election integrity efforts were at risk

• Public health funding was stretched

• Public safety resources were limited

• A Water Steward position could not be created due to lack of funds

And yet, the county absorbed $3 million per year in undocumented, unreviewed subsidies.

Add to that an estimated $3 million removed from the property tax rolls due to land converted to tribal trust status by the Jamestown Tribe, and the county is effectively operating with $6 million missing annually—in an already economically depressed region.

Still, the commissioners voted to raise property tax rates for roads and the general fund beginning next year.

It is always easier to raise taxes than to fix governance failures.

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Even Leadership Took the Week Off

The irony deepened last week.

The courthouse was open.
The clerk was working.
The Charter Review Commission met.

But the three county commissioners cancelled public meetings for the holiday week, while continuing to collect six-figure salaries.

That time could have been used to:

• Draft a letter to the Jamestown Tribe requesting a response on lodging and property tax discussions (now ignored for four months)

• Hold the monthly commissioners forum that was canceled in November—the only guaranteed opportunity for the public to ask questions directly

Instead, those opportunities passed.

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So… How Did This Happen?

Contracts ignored.
Money undisclosed.
Voters uninformed.
Priorities inverted.

The simplest answer is often the hardest to admit:

No one was minding the basics of governing.

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A Constructive Path Forward

This is a serious problem—but it’s not irreversible. At the very least, the county should:

• Lay out a clear, public accounting of the criminal justice contracts and the year-by-year shortfalls.

• Be upfront about intergovernmental subsidies before asking voters for more in taxes.

• Actually follow through on annual contract reviews and present those findings in open meetings.

• Take a hard look at how many outside boards commissioners sit on, so basic governing doesn’t get sidelined.

• Bring back regular public forums, with a real commitment to transparency—even when it’s inconvenient or falls during the holidays.

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Call to Action

Clallam County residents deserve answers.

You can contact all three county commissioners through the Clerk of the Board by emailing loni.gores@clallamcountywa.gov and asking, plainly:

• How did this go unaddressed for nearly a decade?

• Why were voters not informed before being asked to raise taxes?

• What safeguards are now in place to prevent this from happening again?

Transparency does not begin with press releases.
It begins with accountability.

And accountability begins when the public insists on it.