“We will hear directly from the public on their priorities for how we spend their hard-earned tax dollars," said Councilmember Bob Ferguson, Chair of the Operating Budget, Fiscal Management and Mental Health Committee. “This new, aggressive initiative will engage the public in a detailed, meaningful dialogue on how best to prioritize the County budget, and take our budget process to the next level.”

"No other piece of legislation I've sponsored more strikingly calls out for a 'government of the people, by the people, for the people' than this public process for determining what should be King County's priorities," said Councilmember Jane Hague, Vice Chair of the Operating Budget, Fiscal Management and Mental Health Committee.

The first phase of the Citizen Engagement Initiative calls for a series of focus group workshops over the next six weeks with randomly-selected citizens drawn from a cross-section of the population. An independent contractor will conduct the workshops and provide a written “People’s Report” to the Council by March 1. To meet that deadline the Council today adopted legislation to waive competitive bidding and formal solicitation requirements for the approximately $80,000 contract.

That report will form the basis for a number of public meetings of the Council’s Operating Budget, Fiscal Management and Mental Health Committee. Citizens will be invited to forums held in March and April in various geographic areas of the county, some on evenings and weekends, to offer their comments on how King County should prioritize its spending and on how they perceive that money is now being spent by the agencies providing public services.

By early May, the Council will gather all the citizen comment and transmit a set of adopted budget priorities to guide the County Executive in preparation of his 2008 budget proposal, and to provide citizen-based policy direction and priorities to the Council for its 2008 budget deliberations and beyond.

“I am encouraged by the addition of this tool to evaluate what services the public really wants government to provide, and not to provide,” said Councilmember Kathy Lambert, vice chair of the Capital Budget Committee. “It is important for King County to have public support and direction in making systemic changes. I look forward to hearing directly from citizens and basing our budget policies on their exact needs and wishes. This kind of broad survey of public opinion will go beyond just special interest groups that often respond about King County’s budgeting, and will ensure that the specific interest group we serve is the citizens in general.”

The Council last fall adopted a set of “Priorities for People” to guide development of the 2007 King County Budget, which totaled $3.86 billion.

“As chair of the 2007 budget process, I made sure to include funding to expand public participation in setting budget priorities,” said Councilmember Dow Constantine, chair of the Council’s Capital Budget Committee. “What King County citizens say at these meetings will help us to build on the Council-approved ‘Priorities for People.’”

“This initiative ensures citizens will help shape the budget through every stage of development, from the outline to the final draft,” said Councilmember Larry Phillips. “I look forward to hearing directly from citizens about how they want to prioritize use of their tax dollars.”