2009 King County Budget

Citizens expect fiscal integrity and accountability in the use of their tax dollars. The Metropolitan King County Council meets that demand by setting priorities, funding programs consistent with those priorities, and measuring results.

As the legislative branch of county government, the annual budget is the single most important document through which the Council sets policy for King County and oversees delivery of the services you need and expect. For 2008, the Council adopted a $4.9 billion budget, with a general fund of $662 million.

With what is now projected to be a $90 million shortfall in the County general fund for 2009, the Council on Aug. 4 declared public safety, health and quality of life as its first priorities for funding in the 2009 budget, and established its intent through its budget deliberations to:

• Declare the protection of public safety, health and enhancement of quality of life to be its top priority, and that before reducing funding in those areas it would look first to reduce or eliminate services deemed non-essential and use a prudent portion of existing reserves to preserve essential services in the short term,
  
  
• Encourage County government to become more entrepreneurial and seek partnerships with both public and private sector partners that allow the county to leverage additional resources for funding essential services, and
  
  
• Develop a sustainable budget in the long term by looking beyond departmental cuts and focusing on policy and programmatic changes that would make a difference in the County’s overall costs of doing business.

In particular, the Council called upon the County Executive to examine the following specific areas in his budget proposal:

• Annexations: Refocus the $8 million in reserves that remain of funds set aside for the King County Annexation Initiative to those potential annexation areas that are actively being considered by local cities, and redirecting remaining funds towards public safety services in the urban unincorporated areas. After four years and more than $2 million in operations and staffing costs, only two of the largest urban unincorporated areas have successfully annexed, resulting in only minimal savings to the County.
  
  
• Property holdings: Evaluate real property owned by the general fund for the feasibility of selling parcels to close the budget gap.
  
  
• Capital project prioritization: Analyze all County capital improvement projects and the need for continuing with them in relation to the provision of core County services.
  
  
• Animal welfare: Ensure that the proposed 2009 budget conforms to the operational master plan for the provision of sustainable and timely humane animal welfare services by King County and partner agencies.
   
• Fees: Highlight any fees for service that return less to the County than the cost of providing that service.
  
  
• Business Relations and Economic Development: Examine those services of this office that do not pay for themselves from revenues outside the general fund. 
  
  
• Jail beds: Make more bed spaces in King County jails available to local cities, which pay more for housing of their inmates than does the state.



• Unfunded state mandates: Provide a list of all unfunded mandates from the state of Washington that continue to shift the financial burden to county governments. The list will include the cost incurred by the County to provide the services, so that the Council can develop strategies for their reimbursement, reduction or elimination.
  
  
• Internal services: Enable separately-elected officials to determine what level of overhead services they wish to pay for and receive, such as janitorial services, fleet maintenance or computer support, in order to free up more of their budgets toward public services, such as police patrols.

The Council also called upon the Governor and state Legislature to permanently address the structural funding gap facing all counties in Washington state by authorizing expanded types of revenues for local jurisdictions that provide for sufficient growth to meet rising annual costs and have the flexibility of helping to fund basic public services.

As a King County resident you have many opportunities to contact the Council to provide your input on budget priorities and specific funding issues. See the Budget Timeline to track the process of budget development. Six public hearnigs have been set for October and November.

Upon receipt of the 2009 Executive Proposed Budget on Oct. 13, all nine members of the Council will convene as the Annual Budget Committee to hold public hearings and adopt the 2009 King County Budget.

Learn more about the King County Budget by exploring this site, or send a question or a comment.