King County budget embraces Executive strategy

Public safety, Public Health, AAA bond rating protected

King County Executive Ron Sims is set to review and approve the budget voted on today by the Metropolitan King County Council. The council’s budget incorporates nearly all of the recommendations in the balanced budget proposed by the Executive just over a month ago, which filled the nearly $93.4 million budget gap with permanent reductions, efficiencies and revenue increases, salary and overhead savings and limited use of reserves.

In addition to maintaining elements of the Executive’s “lifeboat strategy” for providing partial funding for critical Public Health services, the council also incorporated salary and facility savings from nearly countywide employee furloughs negotiated between the Executive and union leaders.

“There has never been a budget as tough as this one, and I’m pleased the council followed my lead and priorities: out of a $644.4 million general fund budget, in the end the council only changed about $10.6 million,” said Executive Sims. “The council embraced protecting public safety and public health services while keeping reserves at a level that allows us to maintain our AAA bond rating.”

“I intend to sign this budget although I have some concerns about the use of reserves and accounting strategies that may make our forecasted funding gap worse in the coming years if we are not able to get help from the legislature,” he said.

Executive Sims and his staff have been in discussions with individual legislative leaders, the governor, other counties and small cities for months about a new tool kit for counties to maintain services and keep up with inflation. Sims and his staff will continue their efforts in Olympia this winter alongside other separately elected leaders and stakeholders seeking solutions. They are asking for more flexibility in existing revenue sources, policy changes that will reduce costs and unfunded mandates for counties, and increased revenue authority. The Executive will also be asking for the legislature's help in creating stable, long-term funding options for Public Health services that protect the whole community, promote better health and provide essential health services for the most vulnerable.

“I especially want to thank union leadership and both represented and non-represented county employees for their willingness to sacrifice in order to prevent even deeper cuts in services and jobs,” Sims said.

The council’s budget also includes Executive proposed investments that will help safeguard water quality, improve transit and key transportation corridors and help build a better economy.

"The unprecedented worldwide economic slump is cascading down to the local level and creating serious challenges for providing services that we want and need,” said Sims. “It’s clear we all want to ensure public safety and the public safety net for our most vulnerable residents; we simply must work together to update the tools at our disposal as counties for responding to these challenges. We will find a solution. It’s just a matter of working together to create it.”