Proposal cuts Pierce County budget

The size of Pierce County government’s work force would shrink even more next year than it did in 2009 under the budget proposed Tuesday by County Executive Pat McCarthy.

There would be 284 fewer full-time workers on the county payroll in 2010 – a decline of 8.4 percent from this year – as the job rolls would drop to 3,106 full-time employees.

That is 13 fewer workers than the county had 10 years ago, even though the county’s population has increased by about 100,000 residents in that time to 813,000 people.

McCarthy unveiled her budget to the County Council at a meeting Tuesday afternoon. Her budget for 2010 calls for spending $792 million, which is $70 million lower than budgeted this year for a decline of 8.2 percent.

“The worst recession since the Great Depression has forced us to take a new look at how we provide quality public services to our citizens in the face of declining revenues,” McCarthy told the council.

Her budget “will not make many people happy,” she added.

The county work force reached its peak in 2008, when there were 3,488 workers. Next year’s budget would have 382 fewer workers from that level.

Council chairman Roger Bush, R-Graham, said the council will hold its first budget workshop Oct. 7 and members hope to adopt a budget by Nov. 10.

Although they haven’t read the full 420-page document, they were pleased to see that the Democratic county executive incorporated many of the budget guidelines set out by the council, Bush said.

Those include the council’s wish to minimize cuts to public safety and not install traffic cameras to catch drivers who run red lights, he said.

For the first time in 25 years, the county’s general fund budget – the one that pays for day-to-day operations – would be smaller than the year before, budget director Patrick Kenney said. It would drop from $278 million to $270 million, a decline of 2.6 percent.

Kenney said although the county expects to collect about 2.5 percent more money from property taxes in 2010, its real estate and sales taxes collections are expected to slide further, reflecting a slow recovery from a recession that is now about two years old.

As previously reported, McCarthy also wants to pull the plug on poll voting and will try to get county workers to shoulder a share of their health coverage next year as they negotiate contracts this fall. Kenney said the county now pays close to $1,000 a month for medical and dental coverage per worker, and the county bears the full cost for all but a handful of county workers who pay 10 percent of the cost of their health care premiums.

“In this day and age, that shouldn’t be the case,” he said.

State workers pay 12 percent of their health care costs. The average in the private sector for large companies is more than 25 percent.

Kenney said health care premiums are expected to rise 10 percent to 12 percent in 2010, but McCarthy’s budget assumes county government will spend no more on health care next year that it did this year. That would suggest employees either will have to pick up the increase or settle for a health plan with lesser benefits. That could be a sticking point with unions, Bush said. Kenney said the county hopes to wrap up its medical insurance negotiations by the end of the year since plans take effect Jan. 1.

Joseph Turner: 360-786-1826

joe.turner@thenewstribune.com

blog.thenewstribune.com/politics

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE COUNTY BUDGET PROPOSAL

 • Criminal justice programs – sheriff, prosecutor, jail, courts – account for 76 percent of the county’s budget, but those agencies absorbed only 53 percent of the cuts, Kenney said. Even so, the Sheriff’s Department would lose 21 employees, the prosecutor would have 16 fewer employees, and the jail would operate with nearly 17 fewer workers.

 • Fee increases, most of them in the Planning and Land Services area, would raise an additional $1.3 million next year. That’s an average 6.8 percent increase in fees.

 • The county Parks and Recreation Department would eliminate services at 16 parks, including Breseman Forest, Mayfair, Swan Creek, Seeley Lake and the Purdy Sand Spit.

 • Services would be reduced at 13 other parks, including Sprinker Recreation Center, Lakewood Community Center, Lake Tapps County Park, Foothills Trail and Sunrise Beach.

 • The budget assumes sewer utility rates will increase by 2.5 percent next year.

 • The budget assumes county workers will get 2.5 percent pay raises next year. That’s the minimum already set in many employee contracts.

 • The effect of Initiative 747, which limits the increase in property tax collections to no more than 1 percent from the previous year, sets the maximum increase at $48.6 million for 2010.

 • Many county departments balance their respective budgets by assuming their workers will take unpaid furloughs. That varies from one department to another.

Joe Turner, The News Tribune