Revenue votes unrelated to repeal of I-747

As the budget leadership team for the King County Council, we want to make clear that the revenue votes taken yesterday by Councilmembers have been in development for months and were in no way related to the unexpected ruling last week from the State Supreme Court on Initiative 747. The timing is strictly happenstance.

The Council respects the fiscal responsibility of I-747 and has long planned these actions with the full expectation that 747 would be in place. Repeal by the high court did nothing to change this.

Two of the votes were taken by members while sitting as the boards of special purpose districts under specific authority handed down by the state Legislature. The actions taken by the King County Flood Control Zone District and the King County Ferry District are within both the letter and spirit of the 747 limits, as they are the initial setting of the rate for the two new junior taxing districts. The rates were specifically set to ensure that the ten-year work plans for the Districts could be sustained year to year within the 1 percent limit of 747.

The Council voted to fund the Mental Illness and Drug Dependency Action Plan with a one-tenth of a cent sales tax, which is not subject to the 747 limit on property taxes.

All three of these actions had to be taken by the end of November to provide funding for next year, because needs that were once considered the responsibility of the federal or state governments have devolved down to County government. This Council stepped up to meet the health, safety and transit needs of this region because other governments have not:

1) The state is walking away from the Vashon passenger-only ferry, but gave us the specific tool to fund service on this and other local routes by creating a Ferry District and levying a property tax. The state legislation authorized a new property tax of up to 75 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation. The adopted rate, which would have become the new ceiling under Initiative 747, is 5.5 cents per $1,000. Where the recently-defeated Roads and Transit measure would not have provided for replacement of the 520 bridge until 2015, a parallel waterborne route crossing Lake Washington can be in place within two years.

2) The federal government 40 years ago built the levees that prevent six main stem rivers and their tributaries from flooding large areas of King County and bringing our regional economy to a standstill. The federal government has not adequately funded the Army Corps of Engineers to maintain or repair our failing flood levees. Our county has been declared a federal disaster zone 8 times since 1990. The damages and problems need repair, and our Water and Land Resources Division developed a ten-year plan. The Legislature authorized counties to create Flood Control Zone Districts to protect our communities. These are supported only by the local property tax.

3) The state and federal governments have failed to adequately fund mental health and chemical dependency treatment, and you can see the results on our streets and in our jails and emergency rooms. The Legislature authorized counties to fund these services through a local option sales tax, and yesterday King County joined Spokane, Skagit, Island, Clark, Clallam, Jefferson and Okanogan counties in doing so.

As elected leaders we have a responsibility to the people of King County to ensure that these services, programs and protections are in place, especially since the state and federal governments are no longer doing so.

These actions needed to be taken this week, in advance of our final adoption of the 2008 King County Budget next Monday. The fact that they all fell on the same day is a function of scheduling and the need to balance revenues with expenditures in advance of final adoption.