At the Council’s annual Budget Forum, an informal kickoff to the 2008 budget deliberations, members were told that revenues to pay for necessary services the county is required to provide will not grow fast enough to keep up with increases in costs. They were also briefed on a variety of issues including citizen engagement, performance measures and budget outlook.

“I believe government should budget based on priorities, and we listened to the priorities voiced at our Citizen Engagement forums earlier this year,” said Councilmember Bob Ferguson, who will chair the Council’s annual budget process. ”We will continue to strengthen our financial policies and scrutinize the proposed budget to ensure accountability in the spending of public funds.”

“I am pleased to see the fruition of our long-time efforts for countywide performance measurements,” said Councilmember Jane Hague. “We are successfully moving towards the long-term goal of tying funding to priority programs that are proven to maximize solid returns on taxpayer investments.”

Councilmembers were told that over the last several years, operating costs have increased by 4 to 5 percent per year, while during that same time revenues increased 2 to 3 percent. Staff said the 2007 budget bridged the difference by drawing down savings, and warned to expect more of the same in 2008.

“King County’s revenues are not keeping up with inflation. Cost increases for items such as fuel and employee health insurance strain our ability to maintain services,” said Councilmember Dow Constantine. “The first solution must not be cutting services, nor raising taxes, but forging ahead with efficiency measures to get the most value for each public dollar.”

“We must continue tending to our regional infrastructure needs and keeping our communities safe, but we also need to focus on local government services for the 360,000 citizens who live in unincorporated areas,” said Councilmember Kathy Lambert, vice chair of the Capital Budget Committee. “Adequate funding for local government services needs to be the priority, followed by regional government services. We need to be sure that all citizens see positive outcomes from their tax dollars at work.”

Michael Jacobson, the county’s Performance Management Director, briefed members on progress in creating a performance management system, the current use of data to analyze programs to better inform priorities in the county budget, and initiatives to improve the reporting on county performance to the public.

“In recent years, the council has implemented protective fiscal policies and exercised a great deal of discipline in developing our annual budgets,” said Councilmember Larry Phillips. “Accordingly, we’re well equipped to protect core services and the county’s strong financial ratings through the difficult times ahead.”

As an indication of fiscal responsibility and continued prudent investing of public funds the Council’s Budget Leadership Team, consisting of Councilmembers Ferguson, Hague, Constantine and Lambert, introduced legislation to create an advisory panel to conduct a comprehensive review of the King County Investment Pool.

“Recent events in the national credit market have led to downgrades in several investments and exposed potential issues with our investment policies,” said Ferguson, who represents the Council on the Executive Finance Committee, which oversees the Investment Pool. “This independent examination of our investment pool policies will help ensure that these taxpayer investments are sound.”

The King County Investment Pool was established in 1989, and invests the cash reserves for all King County agencies and 100 other public entities in the county, including school, fire, sewer and water districts. It is one of the largest investment pools in the State of Washington.

The County Executive is scheduled to present his proposed budget to the Council on Monday, Oct. 15. The Council will spend six weeks scrutinizing the proposal and is expected to adopt the final 2008 King County Budget just before Thanksgiving.