“Justice is what love is like in public.” – Cornel West

Budget Update: Some Limited Help from the State Legislature

As the chair of the Council’s Budget and Fiscal Management Committee and the chair of the 2010 budget process, I promised to give you periodic reports on the county’s budget outlook throughout the year. Just a year after cutting $94 million from the county’s 2009 budget, mostly from the criminal justice system and human services network, we are facing a projected $50 million budget deficit that is further exacerbated by the widening structural gap – the county’s expenses increase four to five percent annually while our revenues only increase two to three percent. During the 2009 budget process some human service programs were given 6 months of funding allowing the County Council and the Executive time to lobby the State Legislature for new revenue tools to deal with the structural gap. As a result we got some tools and plan to restore about $4 million of the cuts. But it is still going to be quite difficult to restore much of the lifeboat programs during the second part of the year.

While the legislature did not give the county all of the tools we asked for, they did provide some much needed relief. A portion of the revenues collected from the Mental Illness and Drug Dependency sales tax can now be used for a limited time to fund existing programs proven to save the county money such as Drug Court and Mental Health Court. I genuinely hope my colleagues will join me in using some of these funds to save our critically important Drug and Mental Health Courts. The legislature also increased some select court filing fees for a limited time and earmarked the additional revenue for homelessness prevention. Additionally, the County Council has the option to put a new excise tax measure with the requirement that 33 percent of the revenue must fund criminal justice services on the fall ballot.

Unfortunately, none of the new tools from the legislature will solve the County’s long-term financial problems, but they will allow us the flexibility to make some much needed cuts to the county budget while continuing to protect and serve the most vulnerable members of our community. I will continue to update you on the budgetary issues facing the county as the year progresses. If you have any comments on the county’s continuing budget problems please contact my office at larry.gossett@kingcounty.gov.

Metro Gets Federal Stimulus Money for RapidRide Buses

In early May, Metro received $13.8 million dollars in much needed stimulus money from the federal government to help fund the RapidRide portion of voter approved Transit Now. RapidRide is Metro’s new arterial bus rapid transit system that will provide frequent all-day bus rapid transit service on the county’s five busiest transit corridors. RapidRide buses will operate on shared roadways but will use transit-priority lanes, traffic-signal priority, and other roadway and intersection improvements to speed up travel. The stimulus dollars will help pay for 16 of the planned 100 new articulate hybrid- electric coaches, station and shelter enhancements, and real-time information systems for the “A Line” serving the cities of Tukwila, Sea Tac, Des Moines, Kent and Federal Way beginning in 2010. Additional Metro RapidRide corridors will include:

• Bellevue to Redmond on NE Eighth Street and 156th Avenue NE via Crossroads and Overlake (2011);
• West Seattle to downtown Seattle using Fauntleroy Way SW, California Avenue SW, and State Route 99 (2011);
• Ballard to Uptown and downtown Seattle along 15th Avenue NW (2012); and
•Aurora Avenue N (State Route 99) between Shoreline and downtown Seattle (2013).

While this is exciting and helpful, Metro is still facing a nearly $70 million annual budget shortfall, which if not addressed will lead to reduced bus service. For more information on RapidRide please visit http://www.kingcounty.gov/transportation/kcdot/NewsCenter/NewsReleases/2009/
May/nr050409_RRfactsheet.aspx.

Metro Service Changes: Check Your Schedule

Metro services changes will go into effect this September and again in February of 2010. While many of these changes occur in Southeast Seattle and Southwest King County because Sound Transit’s Link light rail starts operating on July 18th, bus routes in other portions of District 2 are also affected. As a result of pressure from Rainer Valley, Beacon Hill, and International District residents we were able to partially restore bus route 42 which had been scheduled for elimination. Please visit Metro’s website for a complete list of service changes:

http://metro.kingcounty.gov/up/sc/plans/2009/pre-0909-0210-rtchanges.html

In the Community

Councilmember Larry Gossett with Filipino American members of the Bataan Corregidor Survivors' Club.

County Employee Health Care Editorial

Councilmember Julia Patterson and I wrote an editorial in the Seattle Times about the health care plan for King County employees. If you did not get a chance to read it, please click on the link to the Seattle Times’ website:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2009346269_guests17gossett.html