City
Good News For Once: No Cuts to County General Fund in Constantine's Budget
King County Executive Dow Constantine released a proposed county budget this morning that---in keeping with his announcement last week that the county will save $61 million in health care costs---includes no new cuts to the county's general fund.
Today's announcement represents a marked improvement over budgets of the past several years. Since 2008, the county has faced a total revenue shortfall of $233 million, including $59 million last year.
The health-care savings came from the fact that more county employees are participating in the “Healthy Incentives” plan, which encourages employees to lose weight, quit smoking, and work out, and because employees are bearing a greater cost of their own health care, opting for the cheaper Group Health program over the county’s preferred provider, KingCare, and using generic drugs instead of more-expensive name-brand prescriptions.
Constantine's budget would also create a $1 million fund to pay for one-time grants to private agencies that provide direct human services.
In a statement, the King County Alliance for Human Services thanked Constantine for the funding, but said that the stopgap money won't " fix the safety net that for the last ten years has been systematically dismantled by county officials."
"Forty one- time grants of $25,000 will do little to fix the gaping holes in the safety net that many rely on to survive,” Mike Heinisch, co-chair of the King County Alliance for Human Services, said in a statement.
The Alliance is pushing the county to come up with a permanent solution to pay for community health and human service programs.
The King County Council will take up Constantine's proposal and adopt the county budget in November.
Today's announcement represents a marked improvement over budgets of the past several years. Since 2008, the county has faced a total revenue shortfall of $233 million, including $59 million last year.
The health-care savings came from the fact that more county employees are participating in the “Healthy Incentives” plan, which encourages employees to lose weight, quit smoking, and work out, and because employees are bearing a greater cost of their own health care, opting for the cheaper Group Health program over the county’s preferred provider, KingCare, and using generic drugs instead of more-expensive name-brand prescriptions.
Constantine's budget would also create a $1 million fund to pay for one-time grants to private agencies that provide direct human services.
In a statement, the King County Alliance for Human Services thanked Constantine for the funding, but said that the stopgap money won't " fix the safety net that for the last ten years has been systematically dismantled by county officials."
"Forty one- time grants of $25,000 will do little to fix the gaping holes in the safety net that many rely on to survive,” Mike Heinisch, co-chair of the King County Alliance for Human Services, said in a statement.
The Alliance is pushing the county to come up with a permanent solution to pay for community health and human service programs.
The King County Council will take up Constantine's proposal and adopt the county budget in November.
