Sims proposes to relocate office in move to trim budget

King County Executive Ron Sims offered a proposal Monday that would help balance a huge 2009 budget shortfall — by moving his own office from rented space to a county-owned building.

If approved by the Metropolitan King County Council, it wouldn't be a big money saver.

Billed as a $4 million saving of unnecessary rent payments, Sims' proposed move from the 32nd floor of Columbia Center to the eighth floor of the county's Chinook Building wouldn't do much to erase a projected $90 million gap in the 2009 general-fund budget.

The saving is spread over five years. General-fund spending would be cut by $400,000 a year, less than one-thousandth of the approximately $662 million general fund. About half of what the county saved would go to agencies and expenditures, such as Metro Transit, that aren't included in the general fund.

Sims held a news conference on the vacant eighth floor of the county's newly built Chinook Building to announce his plan.

The current budget crisis, he said, "will not be solved by one $90 million cut. It will be solved by 90 thoughtful $1 million cuts."

Two members of the County Council, Democrat Larry Gossett and Republican Pete von Reichbauer, joined Sims to support the move. Gossett called the plan "practical and austere."

"Every penny counts, and every dollar counts, and every dollar saved with this move can help stop the dollar gap in our budget," von Reichbauer said.

If the council approves the move, it would be a reversal of a council directive two years ago that blocked Sims from moving into the Chinook Building and told him instead to plan a move to the King County Administration Building and eventually back into the King County Courthouse.

Sims, his top staffers and the budget office moved from the courthouse to the 76-story Columbia Tower after the start of renovations to the courthouse, damaged in the 2001 Nisqually quake.

Sims will present his proposed 2009 budget to the council Monday.

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