King County Budget Blog

This blog is an informal update from the 2009 Budget Review and Adoption Committee of the Metropolitan King County Council. It reflects the proceedings of the budget committee and budget panels, as overseen by the leadership team of Councilmembers Larry Phillips (chair), Jane Hague, Bob Ferguson and Kathy Lambert.

November 25, 2008  
Adopted 2009 King County Budget posted

You can now download the 2009 Budget [PDF, 375K] as adopted by the King County Council.

November 24, 2008  
Council adopts 2009 budget

Today at 2:45 p.m. we unanimously passed the 2009 King County Budget. Our budget closes the $93 million shortfall in our $627 million general fund, while successfully protecting public safety, health and quality of life in King County.

We made difficult cuts or provided only temporary funding to a variety of programs, enacted a ten day unpaid employee furlough in 2009, and cut our own office budgets.

To restore vital public health and safety programs, our budget also makes more than $10 million in one-time reductions to county maintenance funds, some technology projects, and lower-priority programs.

These restorations enabled us to continue funding for one more year for successful programs such as Drug Diversion Court, Unified Family Court Services, Mental Health Court, Sheriff’s storefronts in unincorporated communities, and public health centers.

We are proud of the budget we passed, and are ready to work with the state Legislature to solve the long-term financial challenges still facing the county.

Read our press release

November 21, 2008  
Criminal justice officials and rural representatives praise Committee budget for restoring critical services

Enumclaw Mayor John Wise testifies as Budget Chair Larry Phillips manages the proceedings.

Today we were joined in unveiling our 2009 budget proposal by several partners whose input was crucial to helping us prioritize the services that are most important for preserving safety, public health, and quality of life in King County.  We were joined by Presiding Judges Bruce Hilyer and Barbara Linde, Sheriff Sue Rahr, Prosecutor Dan Satterberg, Enumclaw Mayor John Wise, and representatives of the rural community.

The budget we presented at the Budget Review and Adoption Committee restores some of the most high-priority programs by making more than $10 million in reductions to funds for future maintenance needs, some technology projects, and lower-priority programs. Our proposal also protects the County’s rainy-day funds

For example, our proposal restores important public safety programs like the Sheriff’s community storefronts and Sheriff’s participation in regional drug and gang units. It restores full-year funding for successful alternatives to incarceration such as Drug and Mental Health courts. It also restores funding for immunizations, public health clinics, family planning clinics; protects transit services; and saves the human services safety net.

Mayor John Wise and other rural community representatives praised the budget for saving the 145-year old King County Fair, 4-H programs, and other programs that help maintain a vitality in King County’s rural areas.
Some of the comments our partners had about the Council’s budget:

“The Council’s budget restores our storefront deputies. These deputies are on the front lines of our neighborhoods and give citizens a name, a face, and a place to go when they need the assistance of the Sheriff’s Office.” –Sheriff Sue Rahr

“With your solution to find funding for Drug Court and Family Services, you have presented us and the people of King County with a budget which fulfills the essential functions of the Superior Court.”  --Judge Bruce Hilyer

“We are happy today we are going to be able to function at a level we think really serves the citizens of King County for 2009.” –Judge Barbara Linde

“The budget that you are about to pass maintains fidelity to the motto behind you, in that it does protect priorities. Public safety, public health, and quality of life are all advanced by what we have in front of us.” –Prosecutor Dan Satterberg

King County's separately elected officials testify before the Council prior to the introduction of the Council's budget striking amendment.

November 20, 2008  
Leadership to unveil proposed budget Friday morning that protects public safety, health, and quality of life

Budget leadership was here negotiating with Executive staff till 1:30 a.m. last night (this morning). They came back today to hammer out the final details and we're now just wrapping up around 7:30 Thursday night.

Come to Council chambers tomorrow morning at 9:45 a.m. as we present what's known as the "budget striker" from the Budget Review and Adoption Committee, one that prioritizes the safety, health, and quality of life of King County citizens. We believe it’s a responsible budget that protects communities, lives within our means, and leaves us prepared for rainy days up ahead.

We'll be joined at around 10:00 a.m. by King County Sheriff Sue Rahr, Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg and the Presiding Judges of Superior and District Courts, to hear their response to our proposed restoration of some funds for key criminal justice programs. Enumclaw Mayor John Wise and residents of the county's rural communities will also be here to speak.

For this meeting all 9 members of the Council sit as the Budget Review and Adoption Committee. If they recommend it, the budget will be up for final adoption by the full County Council on Monday afternoon, November 24.

November 17, 2008
Council finds $43.7 million in savings in Metro budget so that half of bus fare increase can be pushed back one year

The Executive proposed a 50 cent fare increase as part of his 2009 budget proposal to address plunging sales tax revenues that are the primary means of support for Metro Transit.

As we posted Nov. 6, the Council has been taking a deep and broad look at how Metro delivers bus service. Our staff found $43.7 million in savings in capital and operating expenses that enabled us to today adopt a fare ordinance that raises the adult fare a quarter on February 1, 2009, and delay the second 25-cent increase until January 1, 2010. Read more.

November 10, 2008
Budget hearing ends

More than 150 people packed Council chambers today to urge funding for human services, domestic violence prevention, the King County Fair, and public health services to prevent the spread of tuberculosis. The 103 people who testified joined the more than 700 people who came out to our five evening hearings last month to share their priorities.

The testimony we heard today and the information we heard at the other hearings play a vital role in the decisions we start making this week. Using the analysis from our staff, our two budget panels --Operating Budget and Capital Budget --will begin reporting out their recommendations for the 2009 budget, in line with our top priorities of public safety, health and quality of life.

November 10, 2008
Testimony begins: 81 people have signed up to testify

November 10, 2008
Before the start of our last public hearing on the 2009 Budget, long lines sign up to testify

November 6, 2008
A proposal to save Metro Transit service but cut $70 million in costs

You’ll remember that on August 1 the County Executive reported a $70 million annual budget shortfall in Metro Transit, due to an unexpectedly sharp drop in sales tax revenues, a softening local economy and high fuel costs.

Well, that annual shortfall is now about $90 million, and this afternoon in our Capital Budget Panel we are unveiling a way we might be able to close part of that gap by cutting $30 million more in overhead than what has been proposed by the County Executive while still maintaining the same level of planned bus service on the streets.

Our staff is presenting a report entitled “Building from the Core” [PDF] that shows how we can close the immediate budget gap for 2009 and maps out a strategy for a long-term solution to Metro funding. What it will take is for our budget to:

• Reduce Metro’s annual operating expenses by five percent of its roughly $600 million annual budget, or about $30 million. Some of these savings can be realized by locking in diesel fuel supplies at prices that are lower now than they were last summer when they were spiraling out of sight.
  
• Reduce Metro’s annual Capital fund of $40 million, as previously proposed by the Executive.
  
• Increase bus fares at a rate yet to be determined that yields about $20 million a year.

That would address the immediate gap for 2009.

For the long term, our staff report notes that Metro may be heavy in administration and management expenses throughout the agency, and maintains a layer of functions that is duplicated elsewhere in County government.

The report calls for broadening the Council’s ongoing audit of Metro to focus the agency on its core mission of delivering transit service and to more clearly understand where efficiencies may be found. For example:

• The County maintains two vehicle maintenance shops, one for Transit and one for Fleet Administration.

• Metro has separate administration and management units for ten different Work Sections, including Transit Operations, Service Development, and the office of the General Manager.

The Executive has sent us a revised Metro budget that preserves the planned transit system but borrows from reserve funds that will be needed in future years. It also requires a major source of new revenue to be in place by 2011 if Metro is to keep providing the planned level of bus service that riders are demanding; without that new revenue, Metro would face significant cuts in service to make do with the available revenue.

Our goal is to find long-term savings and efficiencies through our audit in order to minimize the borrowing from reserves and keep bus service on the streets.

Keep in mind that this is a shortfall in the county’s Transportation fund, which by law can only be used to support Metro buses and related services. It is different from the $93 million shortfall in the general fund, which supports criminal justice, public health and human services and has been the focus of most news coverage to date.

November 5, 2008
Final public hearing Monday prior to adoption of 2009 Budget

Since receiving the proposed budget on October 13, we’ve met with more than 700 of your friends and neighbors at public hearings throughout King County. In Issaquah, Kent, Kirkland, Shoreline and here in the King County Courthouse, we heard from a wide range of constituents including teens who learned to manage their anger thanks to the “Step Up” domestic violence treatment program, public defenders who warned of creating inequities for indigent defendants, and families who credited public health clinics for literally saving their lives.

On Monday, November 10, you will get a last chance to share your story at our final public hearing prior to Council adoption of the 2009 budget. This special meeting of the full County Council will start at 11:00 a.m. You can sign up to testify starting at 10:30 a.m.

Meanwhile, our two budget panels - Operating Budget and Capital Budget - are continuing their line-by-line examination of the proposed budget. We’re looking at criminal justice and health and human service agencies, combing through the budgets of parks, wastewater, and solid waste, and those responsible for maintaining King County’s transportation system, both Metro Transit and the county road system. The committee is also evaluating the budgets of all the separately-elected officials and general government operations, and conducting a comprehensive analysis of technology and capital facilities investments.

We’ve made some interesting discoveries, one of which we hope to share at the Capital Budget Panel meeting tomorrow.

Oct. 27, 2008
Unpaid employee furlough for legislative branch; all 9 Councilmembers to reduce their salaries as well

We are proud of the willingness of our represented employees to sacrifice ten days of wages in order to help prevent additional cuts in public safety and public health services and further loss of service to the public. The legislative branch is committed to making similar sacrifices and ensure that every agency does its part to preserve core services. Read today's announcement of a tentative agreement with union coalition on employee furloughs.

We are proposing a similar unpaid furlough in the legislative branch of government. This will have the effect of closing our offices for ten days next year. If adopted this would save about $450,000 from among all the legislative agencies, which include the County Council, Auditor, Hearing Examiner, Ombudsman/Tax Advisor, and Board of Appeals.

We will work to ensure these cuts do not impair the legislative branch's ability to carry out its responsibilities of setting county policy, providing oversight and accountability, and responding to the needs of King County citizens.

We believe that as elected officials we need to make the same personal sacrifices that we are asking of our valued County employees.

Therefore, we are individually committing to limit our salaries to the same COLA of roughly 1 percent that has been negotiated with all represented employees.

Because the Washington State Constitution and state law do not legally permit us to change our salaries as elected officials during our current term of office, we must achieve this savings in a different manner. We will simply reimburse the County general fund for that part of our salaries above the 1 percent COLA shared by all employees.