Everett could face higher public-safety costs if Snohomish County approves a proposed 132% increase in the fee cities pay to book someone into the county jail in downtown Everett.

The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office wants to raise the booking fee from $151.61 to $351.61 starting in 2027, according to Snoho.com.

Two other jail fees would also climb: the daily housing fee from $210.99 to $266.71, and the hourly fee for transporting an inmate to a video court appearance from $251.12 to $328.24.

The Snohomish County Council began actively debating the increases in September after months of pushback from city leaders across the county.

Council Vice-Chair Sam Low proposed phasing in the higher rates over several years rather than imposing them all at once in 2027.

The fee increases are "significant cost to our cities, which is ultimately a cost to the taxpayers of those cities," Low said at a council session the week of Sept. 2.

Council Chair Megan Dunn, who represents a district that includes Everett, suggested forming a workgroup to review the rates.

Dunn said the council could be overstepping its role if it rewrote the fees on its own. County code requires the sheriff's office to coordinate with county budget writers to set jail fees, and those contracts must build in full cost recovery for providing cities with jail services.

Why the fees jumped

The sheriff's office said prior contracts failed to keep pace with actual costs.

Those contracts included gradual 3% annual price increases, but union cost-of-living adjustments pushed labor costs up a cumulative 26% over the past four years, according to a sheriff's office memo. Rising medical costs for inmates also contributed.

Sheriff Susanna Johnson shared the proposed 2027–2028 rates with cities in May.

A majority of the county's city mayors signed a letter opposing the increases in July. City leaders then met with Johnson in late August.

Snohomish Mayor Aaron Hoffman, reporting on that meeting at a Snohomish City Council session the week of Sept. 2, said Johnson acknowledged problems with the fee model.

"The sheriff said the model was flawed," Hoffman said.

Hoffman also noted the proposed rates do not account for the county's new 0.1% criminal-justice sales tax, which the County Council approved 3-2 on Aug. 12 and is expected to generate nearly $24 million a year. Cities will not receive a share of that revenue to offset the higher jail costs, Hoffman said.

What's next

The proposed rates are part of Ordinance 26-043, which was assigned to the council on Aug. 25. The County Council is scheduled to vote on jail rates as part of the broader county budget, which could come as late as December. Low asked for an earlier standalone vote on the fees so cities can factor the final numbers into their own 2027 budgets.

The council invited city leaders to a session during the week of Sept. 8 to discuss the proposed increases. County Executive Dave Somers presented his recommended $3.37 billion biennial budget for 2027–28 to the council on Sept. 2, according to The Daily Herald. That budget addresses a projected $56 million deficit.

A Community Budget Forum is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7.