The Metropolitan King County Council this afternoon unanimously adopted a balanced $3 billion King County Budget for 2004 that includes no new taxes while closing a $24 million structural gap in the general fund. The budget calls for a $513 million general fund that continues to support health and human services that citizens testified they expect the county to provide. The final vote of 13-0 was the first unanimous adoption of a King County budget since 1997.

"County government works best when citizens get involved. We heard from more than 125 people who testified before us, and we listened. We restored funding for teen health clinics in Burien and Renton, put back money for critical HIV/AIDS prevention, fully restored funding for drinking well inspections, and reduced cuts to septic tank inspections." said Larry Phillips, Chair of the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee. "This budget protects public health, public safety, and critical human needs, and still manages to close a $24 million budget gap and balance our budget. This is a council that works hard to meet our responsibilities to the region."

The Council's budget calls for 24 fewer county employees than last year, even as it restores some critical positions proposed for elimination by the executive. The overall budget is $17.8 million less than proposed by the executive, with a general fund that is $2.8 million smaller.

"As the regional government for this county we have made tough decisions, and we are pioneering the road to re-thinking governance in an age of low revenues and economic unpredictability," said Budget Vice-Chair Jane Hague. "Through performance and accountability measures we placed on such areas as Information Technology, and our initiatives to streamline the Criminal Justice system, we are cutting waste and providing for a leaner and more efficiently run King County."

In addition to $412 million already dedicated to state-funded and mandated health and human services, this budget establishes a base floor for non-mandated regional and local human services by committing $20.4 million to the Current Expense and Children and Family Set-Aside funds. These funds enhance critical health and human services which serve the most vulnerable populations who would otherwise go unserved: the homeless, our elderly, and victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. This amount is $2.1 million more than in the 2003 budget.

"This Council has produced a final budget that is better, fairer, and more sustainable than the draft with which we started," said Councilmember Dow Constantine, vice-chair of the Budget Development and Analysis panel. "In the face of very difficult financial circumstances, the Executive submitted a good, innovative budget proposal. The scrutiny and debate before the Council has yielded a stronger and broadly-supported document. We will press ahead in the coming weeks on the outstanding issues, including annexation incentives and solid waste. But this entire process, and the budget we have produced, demonstrates the value to this county of having a truly independent legislative branch, one that can both work with and provide an effective check on the power of the Executive branch."

The budget reflects two events that occurred in the middle of the Council's budget deliberations:

• With the guilty plea in State v. Ridgway this budget takes more than 75 percent of the $6 million proposed for the Green River serial murder investigation and trial - about $4.9 million- and sets that money aside in a reserve. The Council expects the prosecutor, public defender, and sheriff to come back in January with figures for how much it will take to resolve this case. The reserve will be used to mitigate the impact of future-year criminal justice budget cuts. This mitigation fund will allow King County to preserve essential criminal justice services that would otherwise be reduced to meet our out-year budget shortfalls.
• This budget takes prudent and responsible steps to meet the challenge of Initiative 776, which removed the county's $15 vehicle license fee as a revenue source for roads construction. The loss of this revenue invalidates the assumptions on which the county's Six-Year Roads Capital Improvement Program (CIP) was prepared, and will likely result in the elimination or reduction in the issuance of $80 million in bonds for construction of new roads, and the loss of eligibility for another $100 million or more in state and federal grants. This budget includes the Six-Year CIP as originally proposed by the Executive with some Council changes. The Council has asked the executive to submit a revised Six-Year Roads CIP by mid-February, with a revised proposal for Road Fund annexation reserves.

"County residents wanted a 2004 budget that meets their needs without raising taxes and with a reduction in the size of overall county government," said Kathy Lambert, Vice-Chair of the Capital Budget panel. "Citizens want their services delivered and their streets made safe for them and their families. They also want to make sure we have a safety net that the most vulnerable populations can turn to when they need help."

The budget implements many of the recommendations from the county's Budget Advisory Task Force (BAT Force) for finding efficiencies, eliminating redundancies, prioritizing services, encouraging annexations, and aligning services with revenues. Those and other budget highlights include:

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: Consistent with the BAT Force recommendation for transparency, this budget consolidates human services expenditures paid for with county funds into one fund. This will allow the Council to track its commitment to maintaining a base level of human services over time, stay accountable for meeting that commitment, and make expenditures and results visible to the public. Specific items include:

• In response to public testimony, this budget fully restores funding for the Teen Health Clinics in Burien and Renton, with $281,524 and 1.00 FTE added back to Public Health.
• This budget protects the health of residents who depend on the 12,000 private wells in King County for their clean drinking water. Only three people in Public Health now inspect those wells for safety; the executive proposal reduced them to one. The Council restored all 3 inspectors, adding back $192,844 and 2.00 FTE's. Users will pay for $22,500 of this amount through a prospective fee increase.
• Only ten people now inspect on-site sewage septic tanks. The executive proposal cut them by two, which would have led to unacceptable delays in inspections and permitting. This budget restores one inspector, adding back $114,000 and 1.00 FTE. Users will pay for $85,500 of this amount through a prospective fee increase.
• This budget fully restores $81,838 for HIV/AIDS Prevention in contracts with community based organizations.
• This budget adds back half of the amount cut by the executive ($188,635) in required language interpreter services to make sure that people aren't denied medical attention because they don't speak English.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE: Thanks to continuing Council initiatives to reduce recidivism and find efficiencies within King County's criminal justice system, costs in our jail, jail health services and youth detention are going down-in spite of national trends to the contrary. For example, this budget saves $600,000 thanks to a Council initiative called JJOMP (Juvenile Justice Operational Master Plan) which has led to a 50 percent decline in juvenile detention population over the last four years. Council oversight led to $1.8 million in savings in Jail Health Services this year, with additional savings in the future by using an electronic medical records system.

ANNEXATIONS: As recommended by the BAT Force, this budget provides a $12 million incentive fund to encourage cities to annex the remaining urban unincorporated areas of the county. The budget reserves $10 million in the general fund, $2 million in the Real Estate Excise Tax fund, with any other money from the Roads Fund contingent on the revised 6-year Roads CIP to be submitted in February. The Council will ask the Executive to present a clear vision for each annexation before the Council releases any funds. SOLID WASTE: This budget takes the advice of the Property Expert Review Task Force (PERT) and the BAT Force to improve the use and management of the county's portfolio of assets, a process that began with the reorganization of the Facilities Management Division and asset management in the Wastewater Treatment Division. The 920-acre Cedar Hills property is a valuable part of that portfolio of assets belonging to the county as a whole. The Council made a prudent and responsible business decision by implementing an annual payment of $7 million from the Solid Waste fund to the Current Expense fund for the utility's use of the Cedar Hills property for the solid waste landfill. King County acquired the property from the State in exchange for a general county promise to indemnify the State from liabilities from the site. The county has a responsibility to ensure appropriate payment, both for the benefit received by the Solid Waste utility and for the county's shouldering of long-term liability and responsibility for managing this asset.

TECHNOLOGY: As recommended by the BAT Force, this budget invests in those technology projects that are backed by sound business plans and that leverage the most savings and efficiencies. Funding for other technology projects in the Executive Proposed Budget is held in reserve pending further Council review of the Executive's business plans.

WASTEWATER: The Council saved at least $25 million by downsizing a $35 million water reuse project in the Sammamish Valley from a stand-alone project to a flexible, mobile unit budgeted at only $6 million in 2004. This unit will process up to 500,000 gallons of wastewater per day and convert it to water for irrigation of the Sammamish Valley.

Nearly 83 percent of the $3.006 billion budget is in dedicated funds that must be used for specific purposes such as transit, roads and wastewater. The remaining $512.9 million general fund must be used for all other government services, including public safety, criminal justice, human services, and general government functions.

The budget addresses the $24 million structural gap between revenues and expenses in the general fund with revenues from the $11.5 million voter-approved parks levy; $5.1 million in revenues from the new entrepreneurial business plan for parks; and $8 million in reduced spending taken in administrative reductions before cuts in direct services.

The King County Council adopted the 2004 Budget after six weeks of intensive scrutiny and public deliberation that including hearing from more than 125 speakers at five public hearings and taking online testimony from more than 72 citizens through our Cyberdemocracy Web feature. All of the public meetings were cablecast on the county's government access cable channel, King County Civic Television.

King County government is responsible for providing a variety of services to all residents of the county. These include regional services, such as public safety, criminal justice, public transportation, and wastewater treatment. King County government is also responsible for providing local services to unincorporated communities, such as county sheriff protection, roads, local parks, and land-use regulation. In addition to these mandated regional and local responsibilities, the County contracts with several suburban cities for services such as police protection, animal control, and health and human services.

The adopted 2004 King County Budget document is now posted online at the Council Budget Web site at: www.metrokc.gov/council/budget

Watch replays of the King County Council's budget adoption action throughout the week on King County Civic Television, on cable at Comcast Ch. 22 or Millennium Ch. 72/80, or see streaming videos online at: www.metrokc.gov/ctv