PRIORITIES FOR PEOPLE: Mental health, public safety primary focus of first public hearings on 2008 County Budget

More than 150 people attended meetings in Kent and West Seattle this week to tell members of the Metropolitan King County Council’s Budget Committee that mental health funding and public safety continue to be their top budget priority for the County’s 2008 budget.

The meetings, at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center on October 23 and West Seattle High School on October 24, were two of the four public meetings held by Budget Committee to allow all residents to share their budget priorities with the Committee. The Metropolitan King County Council has made citizen participation in King County’s annual budget one of its continuing “Priorities for People”—the principles that will guide the Council’s deliberations on the 2008 County budget.

Councilmember Bob Ferguson, who is the chair of the 2008 Budget Committee, thanked all of those in attendance, telling them all their testimony does have an impact on the budget. “Our theme, ‘Priorities for People’, came out of the idea that citizens should have a voice in the decisions on how we spend their money,” said Ferguson. “The public’s aspirations and priorities are the Council’s northern star, helping set a course for the budget decisions we will make in the coming weeks.”

The budget issues raised by the 120 people who testified at the two hearings ranged from funding for prenatal programs to help in construction of community centers and job training facilities. But the predominant theme was mental health, with speakers urging the Council to take the next step in helping the mentally ill and chemically dependent by adopting the proposed 1/10 of 1 percent sales tax to implement the Mental Illness and Drug Dependency Action Plan.

The plan, which was accepted by the Council on October 8, is aimed at protecting the public by holding offenders accountable for their actions, reducing the motivation for common crimes such as car theft and ID theft, and restoring the lives of those afflicted by disabling mental illness and chemical dependency. Pointing toward the detention facility housed within the Justice Center, speakers urged the County to ensure that individuals suffering from mental illness will get the treatment they need so they don’t become part of the criminal justice system.

Corrections officers from the King County Jail, Regional Justice Center and Youth Detention Facility called for an end to requirements for mandatory overtime and supported the increased funding in the Executive Proposed Budget for the hiring of 32 more jail guards. Speakers cited examples of missed vacations, missed graduations for their children, and having to pull over to the side of the road because they were too exhausted to drive.

The Budget Committee will be meeting in Bellevue and downtown Seattle next week to continue their receiving public testimony:

• Tuesday October 30. East King County – Bellevue City Hall, City Council Chambers, 450 110th Ave NE, Bellevue

• Thursday, November 1. Downtown Seattle – King County Council Chambers, 10th Floor King County Courthouse, Seattle.

Both meetings begin at 7:00 p.m. Day-after coverage of the public hearings will be available both online and on King County Television, seen on Comcast and Millennium Cable Channel 22.

The Council is scheduled to adopt a final 2008 King County Budget on Nov. 19.