King County executive candidates differ on how to tackle budget woes

King County executive candidates Dow Constantine and Susan Hutchison agree the county's budget crisis is the thorniest issue facing the winner of the race.

Their solutions to the problem have some things in common, but the candidates present themselves very differently to voters.

Constantine, chairman of the Metropolitan King County Council, has offered a detailed plan for balancing the budget and calls himself a reformer who's been quietly working to restrain spending.

Hutchison, a former TV news anchor who now runs an arts and sciences foundation, says that as an outsider she's the person to cut waste and take on what she calls a bloated government with "gold-plated" employee benefits. She blames Constantine for higher taxes and "reckless spending."

Because of declining revenues and rising wage and benefit costs, the county's general fund — which pays for basic government services ranging from elections to courts and jails — are facing daunting shortfalls. This year's $647 million general fund was balanced only after former County Executive Ron Sims and the council adopted $93 million in cuts and fee increases.

The general fund faces predicted shortfalls of $56 million next year, $54 million in 2011 and $88 million in 2012.

Hutchison, a union member for 25 years, wants to renegotiate labor contracts that now guarantee cost-of-living raises even when the cost of living isn't going up, and that don't require workers to pay a portion of their health-care premiums. She also pledges to implement "zero-base budgeting;" compare county spending with other jurisdictions; encourage cities to annex areas now served by the county; put more money into a rainy-day fund; and analyze the efficiency of each department.

Citizens "are demanding that the county leadership behave responsibly and get our budget priorities back in line, cut the waste and live the way families and businesses have to live right now," Hutchison said.

Constantine, noting contracts can only be reopened with the consent of unions, says the county should focus more on reducing health-care spending rather than shifting costs. One of his proposals is to offer workers a cash incentive to shift from the KingCare health plan to less expensive Group Health coverage — a move he says could save $5 million to $10 million in the first year.

Constantine, who in past years sponsored performance-measurement legislation, this year has proposed requiring higher-paid nonunion employees to pay a share of health-care premiums and directing the county executive to try to roll back automatic cost-of-living adjustments in future contracts.

As chairman of the council's 2007 budget deliberations, Constantine added to the rainy-day fund. "Because of the kind of work I've done and others have done, we've retained our AAA bond rating even through this national and global economic crisis," he said.

Hutchison — who declared her reluctance to raise taxes when she entered the race — has proposed to put a property tax for human services before voters, while Constantine says a new tax shouldn't be considered during a recession.

Getting cities to annex unincorporated areas will help the county's long-term budget picture, the candidates agree. But where Constantine sees a state-imposed law capping annual increases in property-tax collections at 1 percent per year as a burden on the county, Hutchison says county officials haven't tried hard enough to live within the limit.

Here are elements of the plan Constantine released before the August primary for balancing the 2010 budget:

• Cut county executive's budget by 15 percent and County Council budget by 10 percent.

• Trim other departments' budgets by 2 percent.

• Close county animal shelters and turn that task over to the private sector.

• Negotiate with employee unions a second year of unpaid, 10-day furloughs.

• Fund existing services to persons with mental illnesses or drug addictions by redirecting a portion of an 1 ½-year-old sales tax originally intended for new programs.

• Transfer local service costs to Burien and other cities that annex areas now served by the county.

Constantine said his plan would save $63 million to $75 million — though some of those savings would go to departments outside the general fund.

Hutchison last month outlined her own 2010 budget priorities:

• Implement a "true hiring freeze."

• Reduce the county executive's appropriation by 18 percent, County Council members' personal staff budgets by 12 percent and the council's other spending by 6 percent.

• Cut other departments' budgets by zero to 5 percent, giving funding priority to criminal justice, public health and unincorporated-area services.

• Use the mental illness and drug dependency sales tax to continue existing services as well as fund new programs.

• Review spending on brochures and publications.

Hutchison's hiring freeze would allow the county to fill "critical positions" only in law, justice and public safety. A Constantine-proposed freeze adopted by the council in July allows other departments to fill vacancies if leaving them unfilled would cost the county more money.

The council's own budget has grown since voters downsized it from 13 members to nine, Hutchison said, and equals $8 per resident, compared with just over $5 for the Snohomish and Pierce County councils.

Constantine has proposed a four-point plan to keep more than 30 urban parks open next year, and Hutchison said she would reopen them by next May if they are closed as County Executive Kurt Triplett has proposed.

The council is now reviewing Triplett's 2010 budget proposal and is expected to vote on the budget one day before the new executive takes office Nov. 24.

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