City Also in Morning News
posted by on November 7 at 9:58 AM
As the state and county economy tanks, a proposal to put King County employees on unpaid furlough for two weeks next year has been rejected by the King County Superior Court, which says shutting down courtrooms on non-holiday weekdays would violate the state constitution. The result could be the elimination of drug court—which allows felony drug defendants to accept treatment in lieu of jail—and Family Court Services, which mediates between estranged parents and protects children at risk of violence. It’s unclear what, if any, ramifications the courts’ decision will have for other divisions of county government that Sims has proposed to put on furlough. The unions for court staffers have already agreed to Sims’s proposal.
I'm sure you were as thrilled as I was to see the sports page of the P-I talking about how we should pay the new football coach at the UW $4 million or thereabouts. After all, in almost every state in the union, the highest-paid state employee is a football coach; why should we be different? The state can spare the money, right? Right?
My suggestion to turn UW football into an intramural program, with a volunteer coach, or maybe a part-timer earning no more than $25,000, is unlikely to gain traction.
There is a difference between shutting down and other operations that take place.
For example, you could have services which aren't critical shut down or go to minimum staff on those days.
And as to the coach, why not take the $4 million and split it between the Women's Football Coach and the Men's Football Coach?
Besides, those soccer women are 1337.
(ooh, I'm gonna pay for that comment ...)