Levy to benefit veterans, those in most need | A Renton Reporter special report

Published 5:11 pm Friday, August 5, 2011

For six years, millions of dollars in taxes have helped save the lives of veterans and fill a gap in federal funding for critical services for them.

Those taxes have helped the neediest of King County residents and put a roof over their heads.

Now, voters are being asked to extend a levy on property taxes that in six years has raised about $90 million to support those vulnerable populations. The levy on the Aug. 16 primary election ballot is Proposition 1, the Veterans and Human Services Levy.

The need for services for veterans will continue to grow as the United States speeds up the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. That will put additional pressure on the local, state and federal agencies that provide services to them, including the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Like other government agencies, the federal agency is stretched.

“The VA cannot do it alone,” Donald Lachman, a program manager for the Washington state Department of Veterans Affairs in Seattle, told the City Council Monday night.

The veterans and human services levy has made a difference in filling gaps in federal funding gaps, he said.

The Renton City Council Monday night joined a number of other city councils in King County to support passage of the levy’s renewal. First, it took comment from the public on the levy.

In 2010 the levy funded services for 1,336 clients from the Renton area. The King County Veterans Program is located in Renton.

There is no organized opposition to the levy’s renewal; no one wrote an opposition statement in the Voters Pamphlet.

Proceeds from the levy are divided equally between veterans programs and programs for others in need, including those who are homeless.

Veterans and their families are served by counseling supported by the levy, including career development and a road to self-sufficiency. Money goes toward treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD in veterans. According to levy supporters, 95 percent of veterans in King County receiving treatment for PTSD have seen their symptoms improve because of the treatment they receive.

Hundreds of veterans in South King County receive counseling every year from Valley Cities Counseling and Consultation. It’s based in Kent but has offices in Renton (923 Powell Ave. S.W.), Federal Way, Auburn and Kent.

The counselors are nearly all veterans or someone who has grown up in a military family, said Scott Swaim, the agency’s director of veterans services.

The agency provides some of the services and refers veterans or their family members to other agencies for care. The levy, Swaim said, pays for about 60 percent of the services for veterans; the rest comes from the state veterans affairs agency and private donations.

The family support provided by the levy is important, Swaim said, because “what happens to the veterans happens to the family.”

The levy also keeps the needs of veterans and their families in the public eye, he said, and helps the public understand what veterans have experienced.

“The levy helps the public understand us better,” he said. And “it’s saving lives.”

THE LEVY DETAILS

The King County Veterans and Human Services levy was initially approved in 2005. The six-year levy is now up for renewal; it’s estimated that about $17 million will be collected in 2012. The levy will cost 5 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation, or about $17 a year for a home valued at $350,000. Some small increases in the levy amount area allowed during its last five years. Read the details of the levy at kingcounty.gov; click on the Elections tab.