We’re relieved the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office got a stay of execution last week when it was informed no deputies would have to be laid off — for now.

But that doesn’t mean the concept is — or should be — completely off the table.

A spokesman for the department said the Kitsap commissioners had recommended all county departments, aside from KCSO, trim their budgets by 6 percent.

A 6 percent reduction to KCSO’s budget would have come to a little more than $1 million, meaning 11 deputies would have been laid off, dropping the personnel strength down to 111.

The Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office is already one of the lowest-staffed law enforcement offices in the state, KCSO officials are quick to note, and cuts of that magnitude could put the public’s safety at risk.

And since protecting the lives and property of residents is the most fundamental purpose of county government in the first place, we’d agree that the Sheriff’s Office budget should be one of the last things cut, after all the fat has already been trimmed.

But in lean times such as these, with other departments asked to make severe cuts and county government itself reduced to a four-day work week, we’re arguably approaching the point where the fat is already gone and we have to think about taking some bone, too.

Is law enforcement essential? Of course. But try telling the folks over at the Kitsap County Health Department their clients’ needs aren’t. Likewise Kitsap Mental Health, or the Drug Court, or any one of dozens of county functions.

No one has to be reminded that times are tough. And in tough times, tough choices need to be made.

There’s never a good time to lay off deputies — or anyone else providing an important service. But this isn’t the time to increase taxes, either, and spending money we don’t have is what got us into this mess in the first place.

If that means making do with less — even in the Sheriff’s Office — that’s what we’ll have to do.

At this point, what other choice is there?