Dear fellow King County employee, 

Today I transmitted to the County Council the mid-biennial budget proposal, which revises the County’s 2023-2024 budget that was adopted last fall. This is the first step in a two-month public process, leading to Council adoption in November of a final County budget. 

As I shared back in April, the county’s general fund is facing a significant shortfall due to the state’s arbitrary and outdated one percent limit on property tax collections – the largest source of revenue for the general fund. This cap, combined with rising inflation and increased costs, has pushed the general fund to the breaking point. 

I said at the time that the only way to keep cuts as small as possible is to start as soon as possible, and that’s what we are doing with this budget. We are continuing to invest in many areas that are important to our residents and in advancing our priorities, guided by our values and True North. But we are also taking a number of actions to address the shortfall, including eliminating around 60 vacant general fund positions, and making other reductions to save a total of $12.6 million. As we’ve crafted this proposal, we’ve sought every efficiency, tool, and resource, but looking ahead to next year we don’t have any tricks left up our sleeve for the general fund. 

To be clear, the non-general fund portions of the County’s budget are healthy, allowing us to keep King County moving forward with actions including investing funds from our settlement with opioid distributors; utilizing $109 million from the voter-approved Conservation Futures levy and Parks levy to acquire more than 3,200 acres of land; providing $1.7 million for a new Park Ranger program to create a positive public safety presence in parks and provide culturally relevant education and support for visitors; and maintaining our commitment to criminal legal system diversion programs by shifting $1.5 million from the adult Community Diversion Program to the juvenile Restorative Community Pathways program to better meet the demand for diversion services. 

I want to reiterate that there are no immediate layoffs in this budget proposal. Once the final budget is adopted, the reductions and cuts to vacant positions will be phased in starting in 2024, allowing programs to gradually be reduced. But without action by the state legislature to allow revenues to match inflation and population growth, more drastic cuts will be needed in 2025, and critical services delivered by the general fund will be in jeopardy. That’s why I am continuing to advocate – along with Councilmembers and other county leaders and employees – for a change to the arbitrary, legislatively-imposed one percent cap, so we can keep delivering the results the people of King County have entrusted us to. 

Thank you for everything you do for our county and the people who live and work here. Let’s continue to support one another, lead with our values, and keep building a welcoming community where every person has the opportunity to thrive.

Sincerely,

Dow Constantine (he/him/his)
King County Executive