King County may have to shut some public-health clinics

Some King County public-health clinics may have to shut their doors next year, and programs to stop the spread of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis could be curtailed because of a revenue shortfall, county officials said Thursday.

Later in the day, the county Board of Health began working on a strategy to lobby the Legislature for local taxing authority to fund public health.

For 2009, funding prospects are bleak even if that lobbying effort succeeds. County budget officials, scrambling to deal with a projected $68 million revenue shortfall next year, have told Public Health — Seattle & King County to slash $10 million from the $31.8 million it receives from the county general fund.

County revenues won't be adequate to fund current programs because of lower interest on investments, less property tax on new construction and a reduced sales-tax forecast.

"What we're talking about are services that in some cases mean the difference between whether someone lives or dies," Board of Health and Metropolitan King County Council Chairwoman Julia Patterson said of the looming cuts in public-health spending.

She and other public-health advocates held a morning news conference at the Columbia Public Health Center in Rainier Valley to make the case for clinics and disease-control programs in the wake of two recent news conferences at which Sheriff Sue Rahr warned she will have to eliminate some deputies' positions and limit some kinds of investigations.

Public Health Director David Fleming said programs at risk include prenatal care, support for women and young children, family planning, screening for sexually transmitted diseases, childhood immunizations, dental care for the poor, and control of communicable diseases such as tuberculosis and E. coli infections.

King County's 10 public-health clinics served 143,000 people last year, many of them without health insurance.

Fleming declined to say what cuts he has recommended to County Executive Ron Sims.

Patterson said it is "safe to assume" Sims will call for closure of some public-health clinics when he submits his 2009 budget to the County Council in October. "I can't say two or three or four or five" clinics, she said.

Board of Health member Bud Nicola, who ran the public-health department from 1985 to 1991, said the funding system "was broken" in 1999 when Initiative 695 stopped the collection of motor-vehicle excise taxes that supported public health.

Keith Ervin: 206-464-2105 or kervin@seattletimes.com