News
Without Sales Tax, Constantine Threatens to Cut All Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault Funding
In response to an estimated 2011 budget shortfall of $60 million in the county's general fund, King County Executive Dow Constantine has proposed cutting all county funding for domestic-violence and sexual assault survivors' programs.
Between 2008 and 2009, the county cut funding for human services programs, which is not mandated by law, from $20 million to $850,000, preserving funding for Eastside Domestic Violence, a program that provides counseling, referrals, and shelter to domestic-violence victims, and the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center, which provides sexual-assault prevention, crisis intervention, and referral services. Constantine's proposal would eliminate funding for both those programs.
"Of course these are not cuts the executive wants to make, but given the constraints on revenues and the shortfall in the general fund, they are necessary," Constantine spokesman Frank Abe says.
If the county council does agree to the cuts this time---last year, then- county executive Kurt Triplett proposed the same cuts, but the council subsequently reinstated them---they could be restored by the passage of Proposition 1, a countywide 0.2 percent sales tax increase for public safety and health programs. Constantine supports the levy. Polling in August and September showed voters about evenly split between "yes," "no," and "don't know" on the levy.
The only other county funding for public health comes from two voter-approved levies---the 2007 Mental Illness and Drug Dependency Levy and the 2005 Veterans and Human Services Levy.
I'll update with more information about what services the programs provide and how they'd be impacted by the proposed cuts from KCARC director Mary Ellen Stone later this afternoon.
Between 2008 and 2009, the county cut funding for human services programs, which is not mandated by law, from $20 million to $850,000, preserving funding for Eastside Domestic Violence, a program that provides counseling, referrals, and shelter to domestic-violence victims, and the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center, which provides sexual-assault prevention, crisis intervention, and referral services. Constantine's proposal would eliminate funding for both those programs.
"Of course these are not cuts the executive wants to make, but given the constraints on revenues and the shortfall in the general fund, they are necessary," Constantine spokesman Frank Abe says.
If the county council does agree to the cuts this time---last year, then- county executive Kurt Triplett proposed the same cuts, but the council subsequently reinstated them---they could be restored by the passage of Proposition 1, a countywide 0.2 percent sales tax increase for public safety and health programs. Constantine supports the levy. Polling in August and September showed voters about evenly split between "yes," "no," and "don't know" on the levy.
The only other county funding for public health comes from two voter-approved levies---the 2007 Mental Illness and Drug Dependency Levy and the 2005 Veterans and Human Services Levy.
I'll update with more information about what services the programs provide and how they'd be impacted by the proposed cuts from KCARC director Mary Ellen Stone later this afternoon.
