KL_enews_banner.jpg

BUDGET E-UPDATE – December 1, 2008

 

Thank you for participating in King County’s 2009 budget review and adoption process by contributing your thoughts and priorities. I depend on your information and concerns to give direction to our decisions on spending policies.

I am pleased to share with you the progress we have made in balancing King County’s budget as we experience the most severe budget crisis we’ve ever had due to restricted income (including sales tax reductions) and rising costs. In my role as vice chair of the Operating Budget Panel, I participated in extensive meetings and budget negotiations to often late at night over the past six weeks to arrive at a manageable spending plan.

By unanimous vote on Monday, Nov. 24, the Metropolitan King County Council approved a 2009 budget that sets strong priorities for public health, safety and quality of life while making the needed budget cuts of $93 million in the general fund. While cities and counties provide many of the same basic services, the cities have more funding sources than counties do and counties also provide regional services. Regional services include the sheriff, courts, jail, prosecutor and public defense. These are among the most basic of government services. We worked with our separately elected partners (sheriff, judges, and prosecutor) and solicited citizen input to establish their priorities. With this input we were able to restore full funding for alternative sentencing programs that reinforce our belief in how criminal justice and human services work together to save money, reduce recidivism and change lives. Funding for public health clinics was restored for one more year. We also restored important local government services to rural residents by keeping Sheriff’s Office storefronts open and restored 19 more deputies, and by maintaining the agriculture and forestry units that support our valuable natural resources.

For a more detailed explanation of the proposed budget you can click here, and you can view my November 24th press releases on the subject by clicking here and here.

As always, King County Council and Committee meetings can be viewed on KCTV Channel 22, or by online streaming video at www.kingcounty.gov/KCTV

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that your holiday season will be filled with joy!

Sincerely,
Kathy Lambert