Updated Aug 13, 2009 - 3:35 pm
King County may close parks, cut Animal Control
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KIRO Radio
The King County Executive is proposing cuts and eliminating parks to balance next year's budget.
Kurt Triplett must close a $50 million budget gap for 2010.
"Anything we're not required to do by the state or is not a regional function, essentially I will be proposing to cut," said Triplett.
Animal Control and parks are on the list. He hopes cities, non-profits, or others will take over. Funding priorities include public safety and health.
Kurt Triplett doesn't know what to do with the dozens of parks, but he knows the county can't afford them. "This has been a long time coming and we've been very honest about it from the county since 2005. We're just at that place. We don't have the ability to sustain the local services in unincorporated urban areas."
King County has more than 100 parks in its system, including Marymoor in Redmond.
"The short answer is we're going to take the money away and we have to figure out what to do next," Triplett said.
He plans to finalize the budget next month.
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