The Metropolitan King County Council Monday unanimously approved a $5 billion 2010 county budget that targets specific efficiencies to preserve nearly all current funding for public safety and criminal justice and avert threatened cuts to Metro bus service.
The overall budget contains no net new taxes and is $12 million lower than the budget proposed by acting county Executive Kurt Triplett. It cuts 311 full-time equivalent employee positions (FTE’s), 60 more than that proposed by Triplett.
“The council has crafted a budget that protects public safety, keeps parks open in the unincorporated areas, and restores funding for key domestic violence and legal aid programs,” said Council Chair Dow Constantine, who took over as county executive Tuesday following the Nov. 3 general election.
“There have been many hard choices this year, but basic services have been protected, including Metro Transit,” he said in a press release.
Julia Patterson of Seatac, a member of the council’s Budget Leadership Team, said the “defining themes” of the 2010 budget were public safety, basic services and the safety net for women and children. Her district includes part of Renton.
“Although I’m proud of the one-year restoration of critical services, we must address the structural gap in our general fund or face untenable cuts next year,” Patterson said.
Reagan Dunn of Maple Valley, whose County Council district also includes part of Renton, said in a press release that he’s “very pleased” with the budget’s priorities.
“Public safety must be our top concern and this budget makes that the No. 1 priority,” said Dunn of Maple Valley. “However, we face an even tougher challenge in maintaining basic services next year. If the county cannot get a handle on the cost drivers of the general fund, then we will be back here year after year.”
Here are some budget highlights:
Public safety
Savings identified by the Council allowed budget writers to limit any reduction to the criminal justice system to no more than one percent from 2009 levels. By making use of new legislative authority to redistribute sales tax revenues dedicated for mental illness and drug dependency programs, this budget provides funding support for:
• Sheriff deputy patrols and law enforcement activities necessary to maintain public safety in the unincorporated areas and the region as a whole,
• Mental Health Court and the Relicensing Program administered by King County District Court,
• Probation services that protect the public while reducing the costs of incarceration,
• Targeted enforcement programs by the Prosecuting Attorney that have led to significant reductions in auto theft, burglary, and gun violence,
• Alternatives to incarceration that help keep people out of the criminal justice system,
• Adult and juvenile Drug Courts, Unified Family Court, and
• Funding for the King County Law Library within the Maleng Regional Justice Center, a vital service for the accused who choose to defend themselves, and for their families.
Human services
By reprioritizing a portion of the $3 million set aside in the Executive Proposed Budget to transition the County out of animal sheltering services, the Council is able to restore nearly $1.4 million in dedicated and general funds for programs for the prevention of domestic violence and sexual assault, and for legal aid programs that help survivors obtain restraining orders and navigate the judicial system.
Transit
In all, council members have preserved the 310,000 hours of bus service that had been threatened to be cut under Triplett’s proposed budget, and Metro service will remain at current levels over the next two years – despite the recessionary drop in the sales tax revenues that support Metro.
Of that number, 110,000 hours of bus service were saved under recent tax-neutral actions to cut the King County Ferry District property tax assessment, approve a property tax levy for transit, and adopt a Metro proposal for a small fare increase in 2011.
This budget preserves the other 200,000 hours of annual bus service by implementing cost-saving efficiencies first identified in September by the council-directed Transit Performance Audit.
Among those efficiencies to be implemented by Metro under this budget are:
• More efficient scheduling of buses and operators, in part by reducing the amount of time buses lay over at the end of each trip,
• Scheduling bus routes based on the system as a whole, rather than the current practice of scheduling routes within one of Metro’s seven regional transit bases, which will help reduce the “deadheading” that occurs when buses return empty to their home bus base at the end of each operator’s shift,
• Increased training and use of Metro’s scheduling software to identify more opportunities where one bus and operator can more efficiently handle routes.
• Use of $40 million over the next two years from Metro’s Fleet Replacement Fund, which the Council audit revealed holds excess reserves of $105 million,
• Deferral of proposed capital projects, and adjustment of the cleaning schedules for buses and the maintenance schedules for transit shelters and Park and Rides,
• Cutting 43 positions that are not related to bus service, 39 of which are unfilled, and
• Authorization for Metro to sell advertising “bus wraps” that include a 15-inch wide strip along the windows, so that riders can retain an unobstructed view out of the bus.
Public health
This budget decreases general fund support for Public Health by $4.5 million to $26.5 million. In order to alleviate reductions in service delivery, in 2010 the County will enter into innovative partnerships with community providers at the Northshore and Kent Public Health Centers.
King County Parks
Triplett’s budget included the closure of 39 parks within the county’s Urban Growth Area in 2010. The council’s budget authorizes the funding to keep these parks open next year, but the revenues to back that authority are still being developed.
General government
The budget reduces the County Council’s own budget by 13 percent and cuts seven positions, four of which were filled at the start of this year. The budget for the Executive’s office has also been reduced by 10 percent.
Efficiencies
The council through its review of technology projects identified more than $1.4 million in savings, much of it through the prohibition of the purchase of non-essential desktop computer equipment and a delay in the replacement of desktop computers. This budget also calls on county departments to examine where they can streamline services, requiring:
• The Transportation Department to report if complementary services in various divisions can be consolidated;
• Facilities management to report on its staff-to-project ratio in order to evaluate whether staffing levels are appropriate;
• Solid waste to report on its use of overtime, and;
• Wastewater treatment to report on shift changes that could result in more productive use of employees.
