Council Unanimously Adopts 2005 Budget that Finds Savings and Efficiencies

November 22, 2004

Council Unanimously Adopts 2005 Budget that Finds Savings and Efficiencies
Tightening controls to save money for human services and rural outreach

The Metropolitan King County Council gave its unanimous approval today to a $3.4 billion 2005 King County Budget that tightens oversight and controls on spending and seeks out savings and efficiencies so that the county can continue to offer essential services with no new general taxes. It includes $538.8 million in the general fund, which supports mandatory funding for criminal justice agencies, the costs of general government, and discretionary funding for human service programs. The final 13-0 vote marks the second straight year that the King County budget was adopted on a unanimous vote.

“This budget is the culmination of work started by the Council four years ago,” said Budget and Fiscal Management Committee Chair Larry Gossett. “Measures we took then to control spending in the criminal justice agencies, and reinvest those savings in human services that encouraged prevention and intervention services over detention, are now paying off for taxpayers. This balanced budget shrinks our ongoing structural gap between revenues and expenses, and continues to offers the reliable services people demand of county government.”

“This budget has delivered for King County ratepayers,” said Councilmember Jane Hague, chair of the Healthy Environment and Mobility panel. “We have denied a transit fare increase, terminated over-budget projects, and implemented procedures to hold the line on internal costs that affect the bottom line of our enterprise funds.”

“This is a case of investing a little to save a lot,” said Councilmember Dow Constantine, chair of the Healthy and Safe Communities panel. “With Public Health facing declining revenues, and with historic partners pulling back, this budget directs the development of an operational master plan for this Department to ensure it is well positioned for the future. The Public Health budget in 2005 is $184 million, with the County’s general fund contributing $17 million. Public Health is the biggest County responsibility that has not yet been reviewed and refocused as the County continues reinventing the way it does business. I am pleased that this operational master plan will provide an opportunity for that review and analysis.”

“Advances in technology have allowed government to provide better and faster service to the public in many areas,” said Councilmember David Irons, chair of the Leadership and Strategic Investments panel. “Technology can be government’s greatest friend in bringing public accessibility to the process, or it can be our worst budget-draining enemy. We have experienced both, and learned from our experiences. This budget ensures the greatest return in improved service for the investment of our technology dollars. We have measured every project on a scale that demands improvements to efficiency, cost-effectiveness and user-friendliness. After more than 20 years of business experience in the high-tech industry, I am pleased to support this budget that requires proving a business case before implementing any technology project.”

CRIMINAL JUSTICE costs remain more than 71 percent of the general fund budget, but what was once a 10 percent annual growth in costs has been slowed to 3 percent – essentially the cost of living increases for existing staff – due to the Council’s policy-driven “paradigm shift” in the Juvenile and Adult Justice Operational Master Plans (JJOMP and AJOMP) that emphasize prevention over detention and reinvesting of funds in human service programs that keep people out of the system. Through such alternatives to incarceration as drug court, mental health court and driver relicensing programs, the adult jail population in 2004 is down 25 percent from its level in 2000 and the juvenile detention population is down 45 percent, with no increase in crime, leading to nearly $1 million in savings in the Budget.

In line with a study now being conducted by the National Center for State Courts, the Budget calls for a study of the feasibility of consolidating the administrative duties of the Superior Court, the District Court and the Department of Judicial Administration, in order to eliminate duplication and streamline processes, thereby reducing costs while increasing service for citizens.

PUBLIC HEALTH: Declining revenues, increasing needs and limited understanding of best practices in public health have prompted the Council to initiate a major review and potential overhaul of this mandated government function. The 2005 Budget calls for an operational master plan for public health that examines how the county can best meet its responsibilities in light of changing needs, resources and practices.

HUMAN SERVICES: The Council remains committed to protecting the most fragile members of our society through policies that provide health and human services not covered by state and federal sources, especially related to rehabilitation of offenders and assistance for the elderly and youth in need. In keeping with those policies, the Budget calls for a broad-based community plan to end homelessness in King County over the next ten years and employs reserves in the veterans fund to help develop housing for homeless veterans, as a model for the kind of housing and service programs recommended in the ten-year plan.

TECHNOLOGY: The costs of technology projects will be controlled by insisting that each project present a solid business case before it is funded for implementation, to justify each project on the basis of the council’s goals of efficiency, accountability, public access, customer service and risk management. Efficiency projects were examined to make sure they pay for themselves over time.

Using this framework, the Council identified four projects that require additional scrutiny: the Benefit Health Information Project; the Accountable Business Transformation Project; the Jail Health Electronic Medical Record Project; and the Electronic Court Records Automated Indexing Project. In each case, the council has requested that a business case be prepared for council approval before implementing the project. The 2005 Budget proposes to invest a total of $33.7 million in 58 technology projects, but holds back $7.3 million of that amount until the Council approves these business cases.

To enhance the County’s ability to manage complex technology projects such as these. this budget adds a project manager to the Department of Executive Services.

BRIGHTWATER: As construction proceeds on a third wastewater treatment plant to meet the region’s identified needs, the Budget includes provisions for the kind of independent monitoring and oversight that has proven to be a valuable tool on other major county capital projects. These provisions call for new program reporting and cost-monitoring formats to be developed cooperatively with the executive, so that the council will have the appropriate tools with which it can provide oversight on this $1.5 billion project. With the decision to use Brightwater as the source of water reuse efforts, the budget cancels the Sammamish Valley Water Reuse Satellite Facility, saving ratepayers more than $10 million.

IMPLEMENTATION OF CRITICAL AREAS STANDARDS: The Budget ensures that the “three-legged stool” of critical areas protection – regulations, incentives and education – will be in place for 2005, with resources for improved incentives, outreach, accountability and ease of use:

The Budget also implements the Council’s 2004 update to the King County Comprehensive Plan, with funds to develop a rural economic development strategy that is critical to help protect the character of our rural areas, while encouraging appropriate economic development opportunities.

LEANER GOVERNMENT: Due to more prudent use of health care services by employees, the 2005 Budget saves money by reducing the amount paid by agencies to the county’s central employee health care fund by $6.7 million, thereby reducing the monthly employee benefit cost paid by agencies in 2005 from $981 per employee per month to $935. The costs for human resource management and information technology were reduced by a total of $715,000. Efficiencies in the general government capital budget have resulted in one-time savings of $475,000.

Over the past four years, the Council has cut more than $100 million in expenses from the general fund. Last year the County budget closed a $24 million structural gap between revenues and expenses. Council initiatives to control costs have helped reduce the recurring annual structural gap in the general fund to about $15 million.