King County Council Chair Girmay Zahilay and Budget Chair Rod Dembowski have issued a call to Executive Shannon Braddock urging swift action to prevent drastic cuts to vital public safety and criminal justice services.
In a letter delivered Friday, the councilmembers pressed the executive to propose a new 0.1% sales and use tax, a revenue option recently authorized by the state legislature through House Bill 2015.
The urgency stems from a projected $160 million deficit facing King County in the upcoming two-year budget. Zahilay and Dembowski say that without new revenue, the county would be forced to implement severe cuts across core services, including law enforcement, public defense, prosecution, the court system, public health initiatives, and support services for victims of crime.
“The residents of King County rely on us to ensure their safety and well-being,” Zahilay said in a statement. “Without decisive action, our communities will face unacceptable cuts to services that touch every corner of the justice and safety system — from emergency response to violence prevention.”
Zahilay lauded the state legislature and Governor Bob Ferguson for providing this crucial funding tool.
“Our ability to meet the rising costs of these services with our primary revenue source, property tax, has been restricted for over two decades, and the ticking time bomb is now detonating,” Dembowski said.
Dembowski says the proposed 0.1% sales tax is a reasonable solution. “For the cost of ten cents on a $100 purchase, as allowed by this new law, we can and will avoid $160 million in cuts to prosecutors, public defenders, sheriff’s deputies, our courts, victims advocacy services and prevention and diversion programs,” he said, adding his intention to co-sponsor legislation with Zahilay to implement the tax promptly.
If adopted, the 0.1% sales tax revenue would be exclusively directed to King County and dedicated to maintaining staffing levels for key public safety personnel, sustaining court operations and victim services, bolstering behavioral health and diversion programs, and supporting initiatives aimed at preventing gun violence and domestic violence. Zahilay and Dembowski expressed their confidence that such an ordinance would garner support within the County Council if brought forward by the executive.
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Zahilay wants the acting Executive to take “decisive action” but won’t even decide whether to move forward with keeping her in the role? Make it make sense.
Tax collections are at an all time high. Why are we raising taxes? We have a spending problem.
Sure. Let’s see, who can’t complain. Oh yeah, this is easy .We need to add another burden on the poor because these times aren’t scary enough.
Stop the new taxes and get an independent accounting firm to figure out where all the money is going.
“Zahilay and Dembowski expressed their confidence that such an ordinance would garner support within the County Council if brought forward by the executive.”
Duh….It was the plan all along. Of course they’ll agree.
How many hundreds of millions of dollars did we spend on vagrant hotels some of which are already uninhabitable?
We have a spending problem, not a revenue problem. Let’s spend on programs that work, not just ones that make us feel good.
Interesting if property tax is increased the comments tell the home owner to suck it up. But sales tax, which spreads the pain….
What a regressive comment.