Snohomish County '09 budget takes hit

The bleak financial picture facing local governments continues to darken.

On Thursday, the Snohomish County Council said the county's projected 2009 budget shortfall had grown from $9 million to almost $21 million and would require cuts of about 10 percent to county services and personnel.

No one was willing to say how many of the county's 3,000 employees could lose their jobs by the end of the year, but the number will likely be significantly higher than the 70 positions County Executive Aaron Reardon projected cutting in September, before the national financial crisis worsened and the Boeing Machinists' strike.

Council Chairman Dave Somers called for Thursday's meeting with the county's elected officials and department heads to confirm that deeper cuts would be needed to balance the 2009 budget.

The council has met over the past week with county officials to get their recommendations for budget reductions. Somers noted that the criminal-justice system, which includes the sheriff's office, prosecuting attorney, courts and corrections, now accounts for 71 percent of the county's $210 million general fund budget.

"Business as usual can't continue," Somers said Thursday. "I've asked for ideas for changes to the system."

Only Reardon addressed the council, and that was to remind them that employees' lives hung in the balance and that they should act quickly to adopt the budget. He recommended that they finalize it before their Nov. 23 deadline, to avoid employees getting layoff notices in the week before Christmas.

He also questioned the council's budget projections, noting that his own finance director now was predicting only a $14 million shortfall.

"I do not think it's fiscally prudent or responsible to throw darts at revenue projections," Reardon said. "You're talking about policies that affect people's lives."

Councilman John Koster took exception to Reardon's comments.

"I hope your remarks weren't implying that we don't care about employees. I ride up and down the elevator everyday with them. We care very much," Koster said.

Before the meeting, several county officials said their ability to deliver services to residents would be hurt by the cutbacks.

County Courts Administrator Bob Terwilliger said his office would likely close four drug courts that provide monitoring and support services to convicted drug offenders, both juvenile and adult. Although the courts currently serve only about 250 people, the participants have a much lower rate of recidivism than offenders who don't participate in the programs.

"We know more people will end up incarcerated as a result," Terwilliger said.

In the Planning and Development Services Department, Director Craig Ladiser said he had recommended to the council that 85 people be laid off. His 2009 budget anticipates 127 employees, down from a high of 225 earlier this year.

County sales-tax revenues and investment income are down sharply this year. Permits for new houses and other land-use applications have fallen in the county, as well as the sales-tax revenue from new-home construction and sales.

Other county governments and municipalities are facing similar difficult fiscal decisions. In King County, which is facing a $93 million shortfall, as many as 126 employees will be laid off at the end of the year to balance the troubled county budget.

The Snohomish County Council recently put out a call for suggestions from employees on how to address the budget crisis. Somers said they received about 300 responses that included reducing the workweek to four days and instituting some mandatory days without pay in order to minimize the total number of layoffs.

"We'd like to consider those programs to save jobs," Somers said.

Lynn Thompson: 206-464-8305 or lthompson@seattletimes.com