Community members bring concerns to TCSO sheriff during town hall event

Following an address on Wednesday, Oct. 8 that lasted roughly half an hour — centered around progress made by the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office in 2025 — Sheriff Derek Sanders fielded questions about the agency from audience members at the Yelm Community Center.

Early on during the Q&A session, Sanders was asked by an audience member if he’d be in favor of Thurston County lifting the levy lid, as there is no progressive tax or income tax in Washington, but rather a regressive tax.

“I have a really unpopular opinion,” Sanders said. “In a perfect world, I’d leave the property tax cap where it’s at — 1%. I think that’s fair. I also recognize that people just hate paying property tax. It’s the one thing where you can pay something off in your life and still owe on it forever. Sales tax is extremely regressive. I make good money, more money than I ever thought I would. Yet somebody on food stamps pays the same amount of sales tax as I do when they go to McDonalds. That’s clearly a discrepancy. In a perfect world, if we repeal things like the gas tax that’s just crippling people in our state and implement a reasonable income tax, you can actually have some parity.”

If it was up to Sanders, “really” rich people would be paying a little more in taxes than what “really” poor people pay. The problem, the sheriff said, is trusting the state to handle the tax revenue it receives without fumbling it.

“I think that by 2040, I bet the sales tax here in Thurston County is 15%,” Sanders stated. “The reason for that, and I just saw this with House Bill 2015, is that it’s politically expedient for lawmakers, and here’s why. Lawmakers I know are getting beat up right now over all the different tax packages. Where I think lawmakers are going to shift is something like House Bill 2015 where they say, ‘hey cities and counties, you can impose a .1% sales tax. It’s not our problem. If you do, that’s great. If you need to pay for things, just let us know.’ I think that’s going to happen for public defense. Most counties need anywhere from $5 (million) to $40 million in public defender funding over the next 10 years.”

Sanders added that it’s going to be “almost impossible” to get the property tax lid lift changes, noting that nobody wants to pay more property taxes. The sheriff believes sales taxes are more palatable for the average person because “it doesn’t hit you all at once.”

“There’s no appetite for property tax,” Sanders said. “People are already upset with the gas tax. I just think the sales tax, as regressive as it is, is where counties are going to be able to make up the difference in the future.”

Sanders was also asked about what TCSO will do to improve conditions of local rural traffic, such as drivers who treat Bald Hill Road or Vail Road like a racing track.

“We have a three-person traffic unit right now. It’s not very much when you account for 700 square miles of roadway,” he said. “Moving into next year, we will have our new traffic unit. It will be one sergeant, a supervisor to manage it. It will be a commercial vehicle and public works traffic unit.”

Sanders added it would follow around Thurston County public works to ensure construction crews are safe around the county. Additionally, it will feature four deputies assigned for “nothing but pure traffic enforcement” in Thurston County.

“Those four units will be working almost 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” Sanders said. “We will finally have the resources to say ‘what’s your complaint? OK. The traffic unit will go handle it.’ That’s not something we’ve ever had. Our traffic unit has always been part of our minimum staffing.”