Commissioners concerned about potential overtime needed for World Cup

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, March 10, 2026

The Kitsap County Board of Commissioners received an update about the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office 2026 overtime estimates during a March 2 briefing and expressed concern about the demand that will be needed during events for the FIFA World Cup this summer, which has matches schedules in Seattle.

Regarding FIFA World Cup events in Bremerton this summer, such as fan zones and watch parties, County Commissioner Christine Rolfes said the Bremerton Police Department would serve as the lead law enforcement agency in downtown Bremerton. KCSO could provide additional resources and support, often called mutual aid, which is unreimbursed coverage (where the county would pay for overtime to assist another agency), such as deploying a SWAT team or marine patrol. Rolfes said KCSO has not yet received a request from BPD as of March 2.

Rolfes said a key concern is overtime needed for events related to the World Cup, adding as of March 2, “none of this additional deployment would be covered by either state or federal funds. There had been a promise of federal funds that would be disbursed for security, but the federal funding is currently in limbo and uncertain. The commissioners’ concern was about the necessary cost of overtime that would be incurred by providing security for FIFA events.”

Rolfes said the purpose of the meeting was to determine whether overtime estimates and reimbursement rate assumptions were accurate, and provided the following statement regarding the budget.

“By working with the sheriff’s office, we were able to meet budget reduction targets and minimize personnel cuts last year, which still resulted in a loss of three deputy positions. Today, we were doing a review of the budget projections after the first two months of the year because we are counting on meeting budget goals in a number of ways, including recovering more from the state and federal governments for medical treatment in the jail. Because the cost of operating the jail has grown recently, in 2026, we also raised the amount we get reimbursed from the cities and the state for people being incarcerated in the county jail,” she said.

“As of March 2, overtime expenses total $397,380. This represents 16.71% of the fiscal year, and is $50,790, or 1.89% under budget for this point in the year. There are 26 pay periods in a year. In 2025, the average overtime per pay period was $128,164.28,” KCSO public information officer Kevin McCarty said. However, he said the pay period number can fluctuate depending on a variety of factors, including shift staffing levels, training, special events, and other factors.

“More than 70% of our overtime budget is going to keep our shifts in the jail and on patrol staffed at a minimum level. Staffing shortages and turnover greatly affect our overtime usage,” he said.

Regarding vacancies, KCSO reported as of March 2 six unfilled deputy positions, two of which are conditional officer candidates, and another being a new hire scheduled to start March 9.

“KCSO’s overtime budget amount has never been based on need. Overtime expenses have exceeded the budget in 18 of the past 20 years. For several of these years, the overtime budget remained stagnant even though wages and expenses continued to rise at or above (Consumer Price Index). The BOCC approved overtime budget for 2025 was $1,958,993. This was increased to $2,730,493 during a 4th quarter budget adjustment, even though the BOCC knew overtime would exceed this amount. The total 2025 overtime expense was $3,332,271. Over 80% of overtime in 2025 was to cover shifts while people were on protected leave, or short-staffed,” he said.