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Breaking News: Council Places Criminal Justice Sales Tax Proposal on November Ballot
The Council recently voted to send a sales tax proposal to the November ballot. The proposal calls for a two-tenths (2/10) of 1 cent sales tax increase. If approved by the voters, the revenue raised by the measure would go to maintain criminal justice services, including Sheriff's deputies, the courts, the Prosecutor's Office, Public Defense, and the replacement of the county's Youth Services Center.
If approved by the voters, the county would receive 60% of the revenues and the cities would receive 40%. Half of the proposed tax sunsets in three years and half sunsets in 20 years.
Council Adopts Labor Reform Policies
To address our budget challenges, Councilmember Kathy Lambert and I recently proposed the elimination of mandatory cost-of-living increases for county employees. The Council adopted this proposal. To demonstrate my support, I also returned my 2010 cost-of-living increase of $3,721 to the county. You can read more about the labor policies here
and here.
"Lambert and Ferguson deserve piles of praise for working across the partisan divide to put together new rules that do away with outdated labor practices the county can no longer afford." ~ Seattle Times (July 13)
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Bob speaking in front of the South Park Bridge at a press conference announcing the funding plan. Also pictured are King County Councilmember Julia Patterson and Governor Chris Gregoire. |
Council Approves Funding Plan to Replace South Park Bridge
The King County Council recently approved funding of $30 million to cover the county's share for the South Park Bridge Replacement project. The 79-year-old bridge, which crosses the Duwamish Waterway, connects the South Park and Georgetown neighborhoods. With nearly 20,000 vehicles crossing it each day, the South Park Bridge is an important freight corridor that links the manufacturing and industrial centers of Seattle with the rest of the region.
The unsafe bridge was closed on June 30 due to widespread steel corrosion, crumbling concrete piers, unstable drawbridge piers, and deteriorating mechanical and electrical systems.
Executive Dow Constantine is using the county's funding commitment to leverage other contributions for the estimated $130 million replacement project. Read more here.
A key component of the replacement project funding package is the county's grant request for up to $40 million from the federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program. The TIGER grant awards will be announced in mid-October.
Council Priorities - see how we are doing!
My late father, Murray Ferguson, always encouraged me to write down my goals. He believed that the act of making such a list helped me focus on what I wanted to accomplish and increased the likelihood that I would achieve it.
In that spirit, as Chair of the Council, I led an effort earlier this year to "write down" the Council's goals and provide the public with the ability to track how well we are meeting them. This clear articulation of our priorities and the establishment of milestones to track their achievement had not been done for many years.
The Council established eight broad policy goals-from exercising sound financial stewardship to promoting local jobs and economic development- and created an online scorecard to track the status of 45 specific actions the Council plans to complete in 2010. I encourage you to check out our progress!
The Council also worked with Executive Constantine to adopt a Countywide Strategic Plan. You can view a discussion about the plan here.
By articulating our goals and providing the public with specific benchmarks to measure our progress, we are improving the transparency and accountability of county government.
Supporting Expansion of North Cascades Park
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Looking down Sibley Creek to the great sweep of the Cascade River. Photo courtesy of Tom Hammond. |
The Council adopted legislation that I sponsored supporting the expansion of the North Cascades National Park
to include the American Alps Study Area. If Congress expands the park, it will provide permanent protection for important habitat, watershed, and recreational land that is currently protected from development only by administrative provisions of the United States Forest Service.
To learn more about the North Cascades National Park preservation efforts, visit the American Alps Legacy Project's website at www.americanalps.org.
Survey for Employers in King County
The Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce is launching a new job sector survey
in partnership with 30 other business organizations and government agencies. This King County-wide survey aims to collect measurable data about the sentiments, challenges and aspirations of King County employers. Results will be broken down by industry sector, geographic area and company size to provide an illustration of local employment trends to elected officials and policy-makers. The Chamber of Commerce will report on the findings in the coming months.
Out & About
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Access to Justice Conference panel members included (L to R): Narda Pierce, Legal Counsel to Governor Gregoire; Salvador Mungia, WSBA President; Representative Mike Armstrong; Chief Justice Barbara Madsen; Bob; and panel moderator John McKay, a law professor at Seattle University and former U.S. Attorney for Western Washington. |
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I participated in a panel discussion at the Access to Justice Conference in Wenatchee about the impact of the economic crisis on the justice system. The conference provided an opportunity to discuss innovative ideas to address the current funding crisis and how to ensure our court system continues to deliver justice services for all.
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I recently spoke at the Kenmore City Council meeting. It was their first meeting in the new city hall, so it was an honor to attend. We discussed county issues affecting the city of Kenmore, including revenues, animal control services, and Metro Transit.
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I also had the opportunity to speak to the Echo Lake Neighborhood Association at their monthly meeting. We discussed a number of county issues, including the on-going construction of the Brightwater treatment facility and tunneling project.
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 In commemoration of Memorial Day, I was honored to attend events hosted by the Seattle Nisei Veterans
and Evergreen Washelli at its Veterans' Memorial Cemetery. I also wrote an article about the King County Veterans and Human Services Levy, and its important role in supporting our veterans. You can read it here.
Retired Metro Van Donations
Through the King County Council's van donation program, retired Metro VanPool vans are made available to nonprofit organizations or local governments to address the mobility needs of low-income, elderly or young people, or people with disabilities.
If you know of an organization in District 1 that would put a van to good use for the community, please contact my office for more information.
Applications need to be completed and received by our office by August 11, 2010. |
