King County seeks more revenue options from state

Providing revenue options, maintaining the safety net and providing local options for transportation highlight King County’s state legislative agenda for 2015.

Counties throughout the state of Washington are facing the challenge of maintaining mandated services while seeing limits on the revenue options available to them, according to a King County media release.

The Metropolitan King County Council on Dec. 8 gave its unanimous support to a state legislative agenda that calls on Olympia to provide all counties the revenue options that can help governments reduce the structural revenue gap and help maintain levels of service for an increasing population.

The council supports revising the annual 1 percent limit on property taxes to include inflation and population growth. Voters statewide approved the 1 percent cap in 2001.

“Maintaining critical services for King County residents is our top priority. Our local economy needs basic infrastructure and security – such as transportation, public safety and water quality – provided in a way that is reliable and certain,” said Council Chair Larry Phillips. “To meet constant growing demand and population growth, we need the right tools at the right time. We look forward to talking with the Legislature about ways we can succeed in meeting these needs.”

Each year King County develops a legislative agenda with the council and the county executive working together to decide on the positions that are most important to bring to the attention of the Legislature. The county continues to stress the economic impact King County has on the state of Washington. The agenda states that reductions in funding and policy changes on both a state and federal level have had an impact on how the county can deliver services to its residents and that the county must be given the ability to prioritize critical regional needs.

Counties are in a budgeting trap, according to King County officials: The state grants counties too few revenue tools and places further constraints on already limited authorities. Without change, counties can never escape this structural revenue gap and cannot maintain current levels of service for an increasing population. King County strongly supports the Washington State Association of Counties (WSAC) Fiscal Sustainability Initiative in partnership with counties statewide.

In 2014, King County stressed the continuing need for funding mechanisms that support both roads and transit service. The county will go back to Olympia and urge the Legislature that even if they are unable to develop a statewide transportation funding plan that they provide counties with local revenue options in which preserve the region’s  mobility, competitiveness, and quality of life.

“All counties need more options in order to fulfill our role as providers of many of the everyday services our citizens rely on,” said Councilmember Kathy Lambert. “Counties are the level of government that helps make society function by providing services like public safety, road maintenance and repair, sewers and public transportation. I am hopeful that our state legislators will be open to discussions about how to provide the required funds to meet the needs of our citizens.”

A few of the items among King County’s legislative agenda:

• Revise the annual 1 percent limit on property tax to include inflation and population growth.

• Provide greater local control over sources like the criminal justice sales tax.

• Support legislative efforts to expand long-term local and state capacity in mental health and substance abuse. This will require a significant commitment to both capital and operating assistance, as well as additional inpatient beds both locally and at state hospitals.

• Explore ways to pursue increased transit options, including Sound Transit Phase 3.

• Clarify and integrate the medical cannabis and recreational marijuana statutes to better support effective law enforcement, land use laws, and public health objectives, e.g., deterring youth access.

• Align statute with legislative intent of police accountability through body cameras.