KPLU Local News
(2010-10-21)
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King County Youth Services Center in Seattle
Photo by Jennifer Wing
Now voters are being asked to consider Proposition 1. It would raise the King County sales tax by two-tenths of one-percent, which is two pennies on every ten dollars that is spent. Half of the money it brings in would go to the county's criminal justice system. Cities would also see some of the revenue.
After three years the tax would drop to one tenth of one percent. This would last for 20 years and pay for a new Juvenile Courthouse. You think the sales tax is already too high? Well, King County Sheriff Sue Rahr says if Proposition 1 doesn't pass, basic services we all take for granted will go away. She will have to lay off 28 deputies who patrol unincorporated King County.
"If your house gets broken into, if your car gets stolen. If you are the victim of identity theft, If you call the sheriff's office, I will have a deputy to come to your house to take a report, but there won't be a detective to follow up and try and get your stuff back."
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| Sitting at his desk in the King County Courthouse in downtown Seattle. He says if proposition 1 fails, there won't be enough prosecutors to handle complicated cases dealing with fraud and elder abuse. Hilyer and other judges have had a pay freeze for the last two years. |
"I'm not saying this is a government that is full of unnecessary services.
But even if it's already lean, if we continue to not have enough money to fund what we have, then we need to continue to prioritize and triage what we have left."
King County Superior Court Judge Bruce Hilyer is counting on the extra funding Proposition 1 would bring into his office. However, he also knows where he will have to cut if the measure fails.
"The prosecutor's office is going to lose attorneys, the public defenders office is going to lose attorneys. We are going to have to eliminate family court services for assessing domestic violence and substance abuse."
Judge Hilyer says fewer prosecutors would mean not enough people to deal with complicated cases involving fraud and elder abuse. While the sheriff and the courts can continue to make trims, as painful as they are, what is to be done about the decrepit Juvenile Court building in Seattle? It's where minors face charges, custody battles are fought and child abuse cases are sorted out. It's only 40 years old, yet it has gone through floods, mold contamination and it has no hot water. Now, millions are being spent to get rid of PCBs that were found in its window casings. The passage of Proposition 1 would pay for a new building.
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| Steve Gustaveson, Juvenile Services Manager, stands in a hallway that has extensive water damage. |
"Somebody has to come weekly and pour water down these pipes so they don't emit odor. You pour it in there and it does keep the odor down and the gasses from emitting."
In a very short time we have gone from having enough spare change to build new hiking trails to having buildings fall apart around us and possibly letting criminals steal our cars without any consequences.
How did it get this bad?
Two things are at play. First, King County continues to lose tax rich communities as they are annexed by cities such as Bellevue and Redmond. The county is losing its tax base, yet demand for services such as investigating property crimes remains high. Kriss Sjoblom, an economist with the Washington Research Council, says the second factor is the hard landing after the economy went bust
"It's not just that we were in a boom, but we were in a boom led by real estate that made the boom in revenue so strong. We'll tax the lumber, the nails, the land. We'll also tax the construction labor. Most states don't do that, which makes our state more sensitive to the level of construction activity than is normal."
Meanwhile, elected officials, like Judge Bruce Hilyer and various unions are agreeing to pay freezes and even pay cuts. The two holdouts are Metro Bus drivers and Sheriff's Deputies. The deputies aren't offering to give back any of their 27 percent pay raise over five years and haven't returned any phone calls requesting an interview. Sheriff Sue Rahr knows this doesn't look good to voters.
"I really understand people's anger and I would love to see the deputies come to the table and discuss this."
If Proposition 1 passes, it will ease the pain. However it is no where near a permanent fix. The county recognizes it's going to have make big changes. The phrase "cut labor costs and benefits" is repeated over and over again by elected officials. In other words, the county is going to have to figure out how to pay its workers less money to do the same jobs. And as long as the Great Recession marches on, the county will eventually be forced to decide which services to abandon all together.
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