Metropolitan King County Councilmember and county executive candidate Dow Constantine said today the county could save millions of dollars by offering employees an incentive to move to a less expensive health-care plan.

For each of the 10,000 employees who chooses the "traditional" KingCare plan over the Group Health option, the county spends an additional $2,400, Constantine said. By offering them an incentive of $300 to switch to Group Health, he estimated, the county could save $5 million to $10 million annually.

"That's just the beginning, I think, of the kind of innovations we can put in place by working with our employees to drive down the total cost of health care for taxpayers," Constantine said.

He called for the incentive -- which would require an agreement with labor unions -- as part a broader plan to deal with a projected $56 million shortfall in the 2010 general fund.

Here are his other proposals which, combined, he said could provide savings of $63.5 million to $75.5 million:

• Extending unpaid employee furloughs from the current 10 days to 12;


• Redirecting the Mental Illness and Drug Dependency sales tax to fund existing services;


• Assume $11 million in savings from annexations by Burien, Kirkland and Kent and incorporation of Fairwood;


• Cut the County Council budget by 10 percent and the executive budget by 15 percent, reduce spending by other departments by 2 percent, and reduce overhead charges to departments; and


• Get the county out of the animal shelter business.

Cynara Lilly, spokeswoman for state Rep. Ross Hunter, also running for executive, called Constantine's budget plan "a little bit like calling for shutting the barn door after the horses have gotten out. It's great that Dow is buckling down and has some ideas. A lot of these things are ideas Ross put out in his 16-page plan earlier in the campaign."

Constantine's campaign seems to be gaining traction. The latest SurveyUSA poll commissioned by KING-TV showed him pulling ahead of Hunter and two other Democratic candidates. Former KIRO-TV anchor Susan Hutchison led with 39 percent, followed by Constantine with 13, and six other candidates each polling 8 percent or less.