June 6, 2008 - 2:37 am

King County Budget

Dori writes...

As a follow-up to my blog post yesterday, now it's King County officials who are wailing and screaming about the huge budget deficit they've created - and how they need to raise taxes to deal with the problem.

First, a little perspective. In 2001, the King County budget was $2.9-billion. In 2008 Ron Sims wants to spend $4.8-billion - stunning 66% increase in just seven years.

At Thursday's hysterical press conference, Sheriff Sue Rahr said she may have to lay off 75 deputies. Prosecutor Dan Satterberg says his office will no longer prosecute property crimes under $10,000. Those two and Sims say there's no place else to cut.

It's a disingenuous, immoral argument. If Sims hadn't increased the budget 66%, they wouldn't be in this situation. But where to cut now?

How about the hundreds of thousands of dollars they spent to change the King County logo from a crown to an image of Martin Luther King Jr? How about the continuing royalties they have to pay to the King family for that shakedown?

How about the tens of millions the county collects from taxpayers and then gives to charity? Government should NOT be in the charity-funding business. Philanthropy is a central element of many of our lives as private citizens. But the reason government is in that business is so politicians can present giant novelty checks to organizations to ensure that the members of those organizations will re-elect those politicians.

You want a few examples that I pulled from the 2007 King County Budget?

- Abused Deaf Women's Advocacy Services $54,282

- Advocates for Abused and Battered Lesbians $42,603

- African American Elders Program $60,000

- Asian and Pacific Islander Women and Family Safety Center $10,000

- Auburn Youth Resources $148,809

And that's less than half of just the "A's"

Those may be worthy organizations. But government should not be in the charity business.

How about if we once again reduce the size of the King County Council. They screamed bloody murder when we cut the council from 11 to nine a few years ago. But eliminating those positions hasn't made a flea-speck of difference. Los Angeles County has just five commissioners. Why don't we do that here? That would save millions of dollars a year.

No we're going to cut cops and courts. We're going to keep more criminals on the streets. That'll show us for not giving them enough tax dollars. Which leads me to ask the question: who are the real criminals in this story?