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Thursday, June 5, 2008

County Ponders $68 Million in Cuts

posted by on June 5 at 12:59 PM

King County executive Ron Sims is meeting now with reporters to discuss what impacts the county’s estimated $68 million budget deficit will have on public safety and other services. (Stranger news intern Chris Kissel is on the scene). KC Sheriff Sue Rahr has been told to cut $7.5 million from her department’s budget—a reduction she says could force her to cut 100 officers next year. At a press conference this morning, Rahr told reporters she was facing some of the most dramatic cuts at the county.

As bad as the situation at the sheriff’s department is, though, it’s hardly the hardest-hit department in the county. The $7.5 million reduction amounts to 8.65 percent of the department’s $139 million budget—the minimum percentage Sims has asked departments to cut from their budgets. The departments that could actually be the hardest hit are those with significant “discretionary” funding (which pays for services the county isn’t required by law to provide), which Sims is telling departments to cut by one-third across the board. The more a department relies on discretionary funding, the more it’s impacted by the budget cuts.

For departments whose entire budget is “discretionary,” that means getting by with one-third less. Two county departments—human services and public health—fit that bill. Both could end up losing one-third of their budgets (with $5.9 million and $9.4 million in cuts, respectively).

None of which is to disparage the magnitude of the cuts to the sheriff’s department; it’s just that when you’re dealing with $68 million in cuts (and more to come in 2010, if current projections are accurate), there’s an awful lot of pain to go around.

RSS icon Comments

1

Simple Solution: Cut all sentences for those arrested for drug crimes (holding, not dealing, not armed) in half.

Budget Problem SOLVED.

NEXT!

Posted by Will in Seattle | June 5, 2008 1:17 PM
2

erica, you should be asking public health which programs they will be cutting or reduce funding. all programs are being asked what they can cut. even programs with tiny budgets that serve low income women and mothers.

Posted by Ji...nom de guerre | June 5, 2008 1:19 PM
3

How about the Council's personal transportation budget - are they cutting that, and making County Councilmembers take the bus to save money?

No?

Didn't think so ...

Posted by Will in Seattle | June 5, 2008 1:30 PM
4

Well, since Ron "I'm a radical who marched in the civil rights movement in SPOKANE" Sims has already cut much of the County's human services, what else is there left to cut? Oh, I know. Why don't we cut public transportation now that ridership has increased 20% due to increases in the price of gas!

Posted by wf | June 5, 2008 1:38 PM
5

I'd rather cut the ever increasing budget for jails for non-violent offenders.

That's a far far larger portion of the budget.

Posted by Will in Seattle | June 5, 2008 1:45 PM
6

Just thought of a new thing to help with the budget - let's make new property developers on unincorporated land pay higher fees for traffic mitigation and registry, since they're effectively subsidized by we the majority of taxpayers in the urban areas ... how's that sound?

And institute a fuel surcharge on developers vehicles that don't get 40 mpg or better.

Posted by Will in Seattle | June 5, 2008 1:49 PM
7

Oh, and is Sims and the rest of the county council cutting THEIR salaries by a commensurate amount?

Waiting...waiting...

Posted by COMTE | June 5, 2008 1:49 PM
8

Hey, I agree with Will in Seattle!

But just let them out of jail, all of them, like now.

C'mon, we want change.

We can't fund human services and we can't fund transit (Metro needs a ton of $$ for fuel) if we waste money on wasteful government programs that just employ a lot of bureaucrats and expand jobs for govt. employees (guards, public defenders, prosecutors parole officers) that hand out benefits (we pay 100% health care costs -- socialized medicine -- if you are in jail) to criminals.

Change, demand your highest hopes folks!

Posted by PC | June 5, 2008 1:51 PM
9

By the way it would be criminal if Rahr cut 100 officers and didn't cut ANY bureaucracy from her department. It's extremely irresponsible of her to even threaten that. But she knows public safety gets special treatment, so she'll get away with it...

Posted by wf | June 5, 2008 1:51 PM
10

Thought of another way to help the county budget - a user fee for firms that do business in the county that hire more than 20 percent of their workers thru contractors.

We can call it the Microsoft Latte Tax.

Posted by Will in Seattle | June 5, 2008 1:55 PM
11

Let's cut the salary of Rahr.

Sounds fair to me.

Posted by Will in Seattle | June 5, 2008 1:58 PM
12

Thanks, predictable housing revenue drop-off!

Posted by tomasyalba | June 5, 2008 2:04 PM
13

So, isn't it time to reexamine all those exclusions in the property taxes for certain businesses, if we have a shortfall?

No sense not collecting taxes on Boeing if they're outsourcing jobs anyway.

Posted by Will in Seattle | June 5, 2008 2:12 PM
14

Funding Cuts in the County(?)....

Let's Dress the Part!

This is the place to place your lace!

That one is for the Stranger staff who have to place all kinds of truth and lies to satisfy the readers of all higher intellect value for comments left around the pictures.... like page # 9... which of course fits in well later with stinky lapels.

In the state of contention... the budgets on demand... those little details that often are misplaced or down-graded until the appropriate measure of urgency is needed by the compensation controllers... and who should our favorite compensation controllers look to for advice?????

The Stranger of course!!!!

Here you'll find all kinds of advice... so let's get to pickin' it apart and see what happens next year on this date a week later...


Today I am wearing my latest accessory...

A Trench Coat?

Yeah the question mark is for the confused bit on page 93 of this week's Stranger print....

Just in case he/she/it/them/oui... doesn't know it's about Dectective Columboisms in a Rothke Mews beer fighters requeim for a scene...

..more advice from the streets for ABC....

Read Savages column ALL YEAR LONG so you will be sure to read between the lines and you'll receive for your effort...

less of whatever it is your trying to out fox the foxer with cleverly disguised innuendo that question methodology of the ADVICE EXPERT.

Why isn't Mickey Spilaney mentioned....

Because this commentator isn't ashamed to admit there are multiple ways (and means)to spell spillaney.

On to the art scene!!!!

Lunchtime finds the library full of people doing whatever it is they do in the library.


Imagination be....

{read with elmer fudd like voice and becareful of copywrite thought processes in repeating the un-official quote}"

...very very careful if sexually repressed right here... after all this is the bedroom community on this side of the bridge...

wwweeellll.... ok the other side has park benches... what am I complaining for??


Here in Kirkland... home of the Seattle Seahawks Cheerleaders and great suburban sunsets from the cities waterfront park.... you will find none other than the open pages of the Stranger at this computer terminal...

( ...and also at the front doors entrance waiting for enlightened eastsiders to partake in Seattle's Only Newspaper right here in their local community {just in case they don't commute to capitol hill} )

educating what some already know... page 32.

I am happy to see Jen's hand
( and interestingly enough on page 32 {not face on page 31} reminding us all the perils of undergraduate sluething in the local art scene for international travelers and all points inbetween.

All points inbetween as a referance today implies your ( the readers imagination ) remembers little bits and pieces of non-required information to be sorted and deleated or {not stacked} right on top of your chakras third eye for immediate scan and argumentative battle while figuring out what to do with this weeks Seattle Weekly cover June 4th - 10th, 2008.

Hmmm... is all I can say about the COINCIDENCE of my beth like drawing body double in a picture on the cover of a almost magazine...

Quick a question for the uninitiate... does magazinwe have to have a glossy cover to be a magazine or is a paper in a paper still not a paper?

Please be kind and DO NOT UNDER ESTIMATE THE POWER OF A TENURED ART DEGEE ON THE STRANGER STAFF!!!!

There are lot's of things we don't actually know about strangers.....

Any department store detective can tell you it is a drag come the end of the day when your feet are tired and you really want a beer or double shot of Jameson to wash away the past 8 or 9 hours and still have 1 more hour to hang out on the womens underwear floor.

And speaking of high priced fashion.... there is the real reason people work .... very expensive underwires.

You can see it in advertising everywhere.... and the women know it!

I'm sure the depressed job market knows it as well.

There are very few people on the streets talking in well mannered speech about the instant advent of women of all shapes and gender descriptives dancing on the corner under an umbrella in the rain singing in CHEAP STINKY UNDERWEAR getting asked out on a date that leads to the permanent #1 spot on the radio request line of
" Marry Me Bill ".

On the other hand... when it comes to this city and marriages born in this city by city-ites

('ites' being that kind of like the old school grammatical cheaters method for forgetting the word way of adding something on the end of a word so as not to confuse the locals ) page 95 adds a interesting line or two about a seasoned professionals take on the seasons professional take.

More power to you local native non-white guy.


So if it's the crown jewels

( think Basketball Stadium )your looking for.... be sure to carry clean under wares....

as in warehouse black lace.... texas tee-see-throughs....


or just give up on the PG 13 toys for tots and go to the wet spot and ask for a double.

Posted by danielbennettkieneker | June 5, 2008 2:14 PM
15

dkb - u really need to host those long ones somewhere else and link to them after the first para using something like the following ...

To Read More Click Here ...

Posted by Will in Seattle | June 5, 2008 2:19 PM

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