King County Executive Ron Sims released his proposed annual budget today – a budget that continues to reflect declining revenues, a soft economy and rising employee costs. These factors are expected to continue to impact the Department of Transportation as well as general government in 2004.

The King County Department of Transportation’s proposed budget will once again focus on doing business differently in an attempt to minimize impacts to public services and projects. It’s estimated the department, which includes Metro Transit, Road Services, Fleet Administration and King County International Airport, will need to cut 46 permanent positions from its workforce due to declining revenues.

The proposed operating budget for Metro Transit totals $404.2 million. Continuing weakness in sales tax and fare collections due to the slumping economy and increasing costs have resulted in the need to cut $6.1 million from the transit budget. This reduction is in addition to the more than $20 million in cuts taken since 2000. These reductions, which support direct and indirect bus services, will allow Metro to make a small increase in bus service in 2004 to serve park-and-ride expansion.

• Metro is proposing to increase bus service by 12,000 hours (about .4 percent). An estimated 8,000 of these service hours will be provided as part of Metro’s contract with Sound Transit. The agency is projected to provide 92.4 million trips in 2004.
• Paratransit service costs are also projected to rise in 2004 by $3.4 million to provide an estimated 1,073,000 trips.
• Vanpool program costs are expected to remain virtually flat as higher maintenance and fuel costs are offset by fewer vanpools in operation. More than 2.7 million vanpool trips are projected for 2004.

In 2004, Metro will also continue a period of significant capital expansion taking advantage of a favorable construction environment while providing jobs in the region. The agency is projected to spend more than $157 million on capital projects and programs. Highlights include:

• receiving the first of 216 hybrid articulated buses that will be phased into operation through 2005;
• opening the newly expanded Eastgate Park-and-Ride garage - adding 1,000 new stalls to better serve Eastside commuters;
• opening the expanded park-and-ride lot at Redondo Heights in the Federal Way area - adding 700 new stalls;
• completing design of the Issaquah Highlands Park-and-Ride and beginning construction;
• launching the testing phase of the regional Smart Card system;
• beginning work at the Burien Transit Center to provide additional capacity.

The Road Services Division will face similar financial challenges in 2004. Shifting workload and reductions in maintenance work with contract cities will result in staffing and program reductions. In an effort to preserve as many road-related services as possible, the agency has identified a range of efficiencies that will allow the division to consume less electricity while cutting waste disposal and other miscellaneous costs.

The division’s proposed budget does earmark $250,000 to repair and retrofit high accident intersections and road segments in unincorporated King County. This effort will help improve safety on congested sections of county roadways. The division’s proposed 2004 operating budget totals $64.4 million.

Building upon the Executive’s Budget Advisory Task Force recommendations to encourage cities to annex remaining urban unincorporated areas, the division’s proposed six-year Roads Capital Improvement Program (CIP) supports this effort. By setting money aside for road infrastructure needs, the division hopes to give potential annexation areas greater flexibility to fund improvements that best meet the mutual needs of both county and city residents. In 2004, the Executive proposes to set aside $5.6 million in road CIP revenues for these types of annexation agreements with cities.

The 2004 – 2009 Executive Proposed CIP is $401.6 million with a new appropriation in 2004 of $59.2 million.

Project highlights for 2004 include:

• construction of the Elliot Bridge replacement;
• widening of NE 128^th/132^nd Street near Avondale Road;
• completion of NE 124^th Street road widening across the Sammamish River Valley;
• widening of South 277^th Street between the West Valley Highway and Auburn Way North.

The department’s Fleet Administration Division is proposing a status quo budget for 2004 that will continue to emphasize clean air technology and partnerships with other government agencies.

The division will continue to purchase hybrid electric vehicles to replace regular gas-powered vehicles that have reached the end of their useful life. The division estimates that it will have more than 50 hybrid vehicles in the fleet next year, nearly 13 percent of the county’s vehicle fleet.

The division will also continue to increase the availability of materials and supplies used by government agencies throughout the region. Fleet currently has more than 100 government customers that purchase supplies through King County. This effort makes goods more affordable for all of Fleet’s government clients.

The Executive’s 2004 proposed budget for King County International Airport (Boeing Field) is a conservative and optimistically guarded plan as the aviation industry continues to slowly rebound from the impact of 9/11 and the region’s economic downturn. Safety and security continue to be key elements of the airport’s business operations with an increased emphasis on trained personnel and infrastructure. The proposed budget supports a major division reorganization that establishes an Operations and Compliance unit to meet FAA mandated requirements.

The airport’s 2004 Operating request maintains current staffing levels and shows an increase of approximately $800,000 to cover employee costs and significantly increased general utility costs. The 2004 revenue forecast includes approximately $584,000 of new revenues, with the largest increases reflected from lease adjustments implemented during 2003 and completed in 2004.

The Capital Improvement Program for next year includes money for projects such as the South Pump House equipment, security improvements, new Lot 13 tie-downs, Duwamish Clean-up, and Airport survey, facility repair and redevelopment.

The new seawall itself stretches just 220 feet, but the story around it is a lengthy one. There was no doubt the seawall needed rebuilding; its failure was compromising the road above it. But the project took years to get started because of extensive preliminary engineering studying the best type of wall to build with minimal impact to the environment. There were also disagreements over safety features, complicated environmental permitting coordination and the narrow window of availability to work in the area because of tides and weather.

When the section of Dockton Road above the new seawall reopens on the evening of Tuesday, October 14, residents will see how their input has paid off.

At the community’s request, county engineers added a pedestrian walkway cantilevered over the top of the seawall. In removing the old seawall and breakwater materials, they added approximately 3,000 square feet to the beach for habitat and public use. And by permanently installing natural materials such as logs and stumps against the seawall, the beach habitat has been enhanced with materials that will help prevent scour under the seawall. Access to the beach is also improved with the addition of a new timber staircase.

Improvements not readily visible include drainage upgrades on both sides of the highway and a detention vault to filter solids before they wash into Puget Sound. Add to that a fresh layer of asphalt and a steel guardrail that encourages leaning your elbows on the rail as you enjoy the view, and the Dockton Road seawall fits nicely into the island’s shoreline.

The Hyde Shuttle is funded by a bequest from the estate of Lillian Hyde, a longtime resident of Beacon Hill who passed away in 2002 at the age of 90. The shuttle will run weekdays in the South Seattle area. To make a shuttle reservation call (206) 727-6262 or TTY (206) 296-3701.

ACCESS Transportation is partnering with Senior Services of Seattle/King County [external link] to use the Hyde bequest to also operate the Ride Options Hotline. The hotline helps riders find the best way to get to their destination, using Metro Transit, the Hyde Shuttle, volunteer drivers and other programs. The hotline can be reached on weekdays at (206) 296-3700 or TTY (206) 296-3701.

We’ll also step into the garage with Metro drivers and mechanics in the 2003 International Roadeo competition, and share some important back to school advice for parents and teens riding the bus.

"Inside Transportation" can be seen regularly on Tuesdays at 5 p.m. and Wednesdays at 5 a.m. on CTV, channel 22 on most cable systems.