2010 budget shortfall may push King County to tipping point

The crumbling South Park Bridge — long a South Seattle orphan when it comes to funding repairs — will likely close next year, forcing 20,000 drivers a day to find other routes across the Duwamish River.

Almost 40 county parks from Federal Way to Kirkland, will be mothballed unless nearby cities, school districts or private groups adopt them.

And from Seattle to the Eastside, human-services organizations that serve families in poverty, victims of domestic violence and the unemployed are waiting with dread to see how deep King County leaders will cut their funding to balance an estimated $56 million general-fund deficit in the 2010 budget.

Nobody will be spared pain, it seems, when King County Executive Kurt Triplett presents his proposed budget today.

County officials also say they'll need $6 million to $8 million more in concessions from staffers. Layoffs are a possibility. The Metropolitan King County Council will hold five public hearings on the budget and is scheduled to adopt the 2010 budget on Nov. 23.

"We're all sitting around holding our breath and wondering what's going to happen," said Cheryl Cobbs, executive director of Solid Ground, a Seattle-based nonprofit that received county funds and serves homeless individuals and families.

This may be the year of reckoning for the county after years of relying on reserves and the construction boom to plug a growing gap between revenues and spending. Expenses have grown at about 6 percent annually, but revenue has grown by only about 2 percent.

Ever since voters approved Initiative 747 in 2001, counties and cities have been warning of a tipping point. The tax-cutting initiative capped the growth in the property taxes levied by local government to 1 percent per year. About two years ago, the state Supreme Court overturned the initiative, saying voters didn't fully understand it, but the Legislature quickly passed a law and made the 1 percent cap permanent.

The cap, when combined with decimated tax revenue from retail sales and real-estate transactions, has put a chokehold on counties and left them with little choice but to continue cutting services and even dismantling programs.

There are few easy targets. Triplett on Thursday announced his intent to shut down the county's troubled shelter and animal-control services by June 30, 2010, and let other organizations offer those services, but the annual savings, $1.5 million, is decimal dust in King County's $4.8 billion budget.

That budget consists of a $627.5 million general fund — an all-purpose pot of money, three-quarters of which supports the criminal-justice system and public safety — and several dedicated funds for transit, wastewater treatment, flood control and other public utilities.

While Triplett will have to find ways to close the $56 million shortfall, he also has to deal with deficits in other funds as well: The road-services division estimates a $19.6 million deficit. The public-health fund estimates a $9.9 million deficit, plus the loss of $2.2 million in general-fund support. The emergency-medical-services fund projects a $7.6 million deficit. The list goes on.

"Within two years King County will no longer be able to meet its mandates to keep King County residents healthy and safe," states a report from King County budget staff earlier this month.

The county-owned South Park Bridge is just one example. It's a vital link between East Marginal Way South and Highway 99 that serves the Duwamish industrial area. The bridge also serves residents of South Park, White Center, Boulevard Park and Georgetown, all blue-collar, ethnically diverse neighborhoods.

The bridge — which is rated less safe than the Alaskan Way Viaduct — belongs to the county but is surrounded by Seattle and Tukwila. The Seattle City Council even passed a resolution in 2006 stating that the city wouldn't annex the area "under any scenario in which Seattle would become responsible for the existing bridge."

King County has sought $99 million in federal stimulus money to help pay for a new bridge, but Seattle is competing for $50 million from the same pot of money to rebuild Mercer Street.

The county cuts couldn't be coming at a worse time, say advocates for the poor.

"People who never used a food bank in their lives are standing in food-bank lines," said Solid Ground's Cobbs. "These are people who have no idea how the system works. There's a lot more education that's having to happen. Agencies are kind of strapped at this point. It's not a good time."

Sanjay Bhatt: 206-464-3103 or sbhatt@seattletimes.com