The King Council has made a good decision to put a $210 million levy on the Aug. 7 Primary ballot to rebuild the rundown Youth Services Center. The project is needed and the cost is reasonable.
The center, in Seattle, consists of courtrooms, offices, classrooms and a juvenile detention center. The council voted unanimously to put the issue on the ballot.
Last summer we had concerns about financing repairs to the facility. The repairs were – and are – necessary. What we didn’t like was that Democrats on the King County Council made them part of a sales tax boost to pay for public safety.
We called a “switcheroo” – tacking a last-minute project on to a vote for public safety and forcing the public to make an “all or nothing” decision. The public chose nothing.
That didn’t make conditions at the Youth Detention Center go away; it just made the problem there one year older. Now is a reasonable time to make the fixes.
The cost is acceptable: about 7 cents per $100,000 of assessed value. To put it in non-wonk terms, it’s about $35 a year for the owner of a $500,000 home.
Also, a property tax is a better choice than a sales tax because it is less regressive. Sales taxes hit the poor much harder than those who are better off.
So, what do we get for the money? Plenty. The revenue would replace the three buildings on site — the Alder Tower, Alder Wing and Youth Detention Facility. Sections of those buildings are more than 60 years old and have significant maintenance needs. By replacing all three buildings, the county also has the opportunity to reduce the size of its foot print on the 9.1 acre site, and sell some of the land to developers to help pay for the construction.
Most people – thankfully – haven’t had a reason to go to the center. The Youth Services Center is the county’s central facility for cases involving children, which are reportedly among the most stressful for families. They include juvenile offender cases, child abandonment, abuse and neglect cases, and cases involving runaways.
The five judges and two commissioners who serve there make such decisions as whether a child should be removed from their home or whether a minor should be detained for committing an offense.
County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg calls the place chaotic. Conditions are so bad that he has brought Popsicles to his staff there when the temperature indoors has reached 90 degrees.
“As a symbol to youth and families, the building is an absolute failure,” he told the council.
Voters can fix this by voting yes on the levy this August. They should. It’s a good proposal and long overdue.
