Updated Oct 14, 2008 - 7:33 am
King County unveils 2009 budget
Comments | 
Print this | 
E-mail this | 
KIRO Radio
There's no sugar coating the challenges King County officials are facing under the new budgets. "Critical county services are on life support," says King County Executive Ron Sims.
At stake is everything from cops on the streets to child care and public health to criminal prosecutions.
In his budget for next year unveiled Monday afternoon, Executive Ron Sims says he has to make deep, difficult cuts. "As part of this budget proposal I have a very sad duty of eliminating nearly 400 positions. Some of them friends I have known for decades."
But he's trying to keep from entirely eliminating some criminal justice, public health and human services by throwing them what he calls the lifeboat, funding them for another six months while he lobbies for changes in Olympia that would give the county access to more money. "The lifeline strategy buys us time to continue working with legislators to create a solution in Olympia this spring," says Sims.
But critics on the King County Council say the lifeboat and the budget are full of holes. "It becomes a budget of one time, if you will, time release capsules of uncertain outcomes and prolonged agony."
County Councilman Larry Phillips heads the committee in charge of approving a nearly 5 billion dollar county budget by the end of the year. He's also critical of Sims hopes to negotiate cuts in cost of living increases with union members. "Those are hopes and dreams, that we can balance a budget next year and provide full funding, but we wait for the legislature to act. We wait for concessions by the labor unions and the representatives."
What's frustrating many county leaders is what they call the moving target. Prosecutor Dan Satterberg says he's already made difficult cuts and stopped prosecuting some lower level felonies, but without a clear directive from Sims, he can't run his office. "I'm down twenty lawyers and seven staff, and what's happened in the last week is that in addition to the cuts that we thought we were done with taking, we have about another one million dollars to make up. It gets worse and worse every day we look."
But an angry Sims says this is typical political posturing, and the times are too atypical to keep it up. "These are pretty extraordinary times for this county and we are talking about services people depend on and need. We don't need hot air and posturing and self-promotion and interest, what we need is responsible, adult engagement."
So while everyone from Public Health Providers to jail guards were expecting to have a good idea of what they'd have to work with, what they got Monday instead is a lot more uncertainty, and 400 pink slips.
(JMG)
- Parents buy ticket home for Amanda Knox
- Police name suspect in Olympia homicide
- 31-year term for stabbing on I-5 in Seattle
- Boeing breaks ground on SC plant
- Boeing plant death ruled a suicide
- DOT worker killed by falling tree
- Italian prosecutors wrap up in Knox murder trial
- WA Lottery
- Unpaid medical bills near $1B per year in Washington
- Criminal deportations spike in Pacific Northwest
