The Metropolitan King County Council gave its unanimous approval Monday to a $5.001 billion 2010 King County budget that preserves nearly all current funding for public safety and criminal justice and averts threatened cuts to Metro bus service.
The overall budget contains no net new taxes and is $12 million lower than the $5.013 billion proposed by the County Executive. It cuts 311 full-time equivalent employee positions (FTE’s), 60 more than that proposed by the Executive.
“The council has crafted a budget that protects public safety, keeps parks open in the unincorporated areas, and restores funding for key domestic violence and legal aid programs,” said Council Chair Dow Constantine, who will become County Executive. “There have been many hard choices this year, but basic services have been protected, including Metro Transit.”
Council Budget Chair Larry Gossett said the council had to make some difficult decisions given the economic crisis and a $56 million deficit facing King County.
“The result was a very basic budget that allows the county to continue providing mandated services and the programs that assist the most vulnerable,” he said. “However, if we do not immediately start addressing the structural gap in our budget between revenues and expenses, there is no doubt that we will not be able to sustain these services in the future.”
“This is a budget taxpayers can be proud of,” said Budget Vice Chair Jane Hague, whose district includes part of Bellevue. “We found efficiencies across the board that will keep costs down and maintain many of the services people rely on most.”
“I am very pleased with the priorities set by this budget,” said Councilmember Reagan Dunn, who also represents part of Bellevue. “Public safety must be our top concern and this budget makes that the number one priority. However, we face an even tougher challenge in maintaining basic services next year. If the county cannot get a handle on the cost drivers of the general fund then we will be back here year after year.”
Budget highlights
Public Safety: Savings identified by the council allowed budget writers to limit any reduction to the criminal justice system to no more than one percent from 2009 levels. By making use of new legislative authority to redistribute sales tax revenues dedicated for mental illness and drug dependency programs, the budget provides funding support for:
Sheriff deputy patrols in the unincorporated areas and the region as a whole,
Mental Health Court and the Relicensing Program administered by King County District Court,
Probation services,
Targeted enforcement programs by the Prosecuting Attorney that have led to reductions in auto theft, burglary, and gun violence,
Alternatives to incarceration to help keep people out of the criminal justice system,
Adult and juvenile Drug Courts, Unified Family Court, and
Funding for the King County Law Library within the Maleng Regional Justice Center.
The budget also requires $1.5 million in security improvements to King County’s Youth and Family Services Court Facilities at 12th and Alder in Seattle.
Human Services: By reprioritizing a portion of the $3 million set aside in the Executive’s proposed budget to transition the county out of animal sheltering services, the council restored nearly $1.4 million in dedicated and general funds for programs for the prevention of domestic violence and sexual assault, and for legal aid programs that help survivors obtain restraining orders and navigate the judicial system.
Transit: In all, councilmembers have preserved the 310,000 hours of bus service that had been threatened to be cut, and Metro service will remain at current levels over the next two years.
Of that number, 110,000 hours of bus service were saved under recent tax-neutral actions to cut the King County Ferry District property tax assessment, approve a property tax levy for transit, and adopt a Metro proposal for a fare increase in 2011.
The budget preserves the other 200,000 hours of annual bus service by implementing cost-saving efficiencies first identified in September by the council-directed Transit Performance Audit. Among those efficiencies to be implemented by Metro under this budget are:
More efficient scheduling of buses and operators, in part by reducing the amount of time buses lay over at the end of each trip,
Scheduling bus routes based on the system as a whole, rather than the current practice of scheduling routes within one of Metro’s seven regional transit bases, which will help reduce the “deadheading” that occurs when buses return empty to their home bus base at the end of each operator’s shift,
Increased training and use of Metro’s scheduling software to identify more opportunities where one bus and operator can more efficiently handle routes.
Use of $40 million over the next two years from Metro’s Fleet Replacement Fund, which the council audit revealed holds excess reserves of $105 million,
Deferral of proposed capital projects, and adjustment of the cleaning schedules for buses and the maintenance schedules for transit shelters and Park and Rides,
Cutting 43 positions that are not related to bus service, 39 of which are unfilled, and
Authorization for Metro to sell advertising “bus wraps” that include a 15-inch wide strip along the windows, so that riders can retain an unobstructed view out of the bus.
Public Health: The budget decreases general fund support for Public Health by $4.5 million to $26.5 million. In order to alleviate reductions in service delivery, in 2010 the county will enter into partnerships with community providers at the Northshore and Kent Public Health Centers.
King County Parks: The Executive Proposed Budget included the closure of 39 parks within the County’s Urban Growth Area in 2010. The council’s budget authorizes the funding to keep these parks open next year, but the revenues to back that authority are still being developed.
General Government: The budget reduces the County Council’s own budget by 13 percent and cuts seven positions, four of which were filled at the start of this year. The budget for the Executive’s office has also been reduced by 10 percent.
Efficiencies: The council through its review of technology projects identified more than $1.4 million in savings, much of it through the prohibition of the purchase of non-essential desktop computer equipment and a delay in the replacement of desktop computers. This budget also calls on county departments to examine where they can streamline services, requiring:
The Transportation Department to report if complementary services in various divisions can be consolidated;
Facilities management to report on its staff-to-project ratio in order to evaluate whether staffing levels are appropriate;
Solid waste to report on its use of overtime, and;
Wastewater treatment to report on shift changes that could result in more productive use of employees.
