'Ugly' cuts in county budget: Day-care subsidy among Sims' targets to close $41 million gap

There's nothing abstract about King County's budget crisis for Rebecca Seeman of Renton.

The county pays $229 of the $600 her day-care center charges each month to look after her 3-year-old son, Toby. In January that subsidy could disappear.

Coming up with another $229 every month is a big deal for Seeman, 27, a single parent who earns $13 an hour as a customer-service representative for a mattress company. "I don't know what I'll do," she says. "Maybe I'll spend less on food."

Tomorrow, County Executive Ron Sims will present his proposed 2002 budget to the Metropolitan King County Council. He will unveil deep cuts intended to close a $41 million gap between projected general-fund revenues and what's needed to keep programs running at current levels.

County budget hearings The Metropolitan King County Council has scheduled four public hearings on County Executive Ron Sims' proposed 2002 budget. Each begins at 7 p.m. They will be held: • Tuesday at Issaquah High School in Issaquah. • Wednesday at the Regional Justice Center in Kent. • Oct. 23 at the Northshore Senior Center in Bothell. • Oct. 24 in the council chambers on the 10th floor of the County Courthouse in downtown Seattle.

Sims had been tight-lipped about details. But he confirmed last week that one of his targets is the county's day-care subsidy program for families of modest means who earn too much to qualify for other government child-care benefits.

Cutting the program gives Sims no joy. As a councilman, he sponsored the legislation that established it. "We just can't afford it any more," he says.

General fund in trouble

How did King County get into this mess?

The same way families do. Its expenses are growing faster than its income. Have been for years. Until now, Sims and the council have found short-term solutions to avoid big cuts.

This year, Sims says, "there are no more tricks. ... It's going to be ugly."

Only one relatively small slice of total county spending is in trouble. Great chunks of the $2.9 billion budget — transit, sewage treatment, road construction, the county-run airport at Boeing Field — have their own dedicated funding sources. The crisis doesn't affect them much, if at all.

What's in trouble is the county's $500 million general fund, which pays for everything from the jail to the elections office to social services. It's supported primarily by property- and sales-tax collections not earmarked for specific uses.

The growth of those revenue sources has slowed in recent years. Property-tax increases have been limited by voters through initiative and referendum. Sales-tax dollars that once flowed into the courthouse now are going to newly incorporated cities such as Sammamish and Kenmore.

Meanwhile, county employees' compensation — by far the largest general-fund expense — is growing faster than the income that supports it. There's not much the county can do about that this year, says Steve Call, county budget director: 85 percent of the county's work force is unionized, and wage increases and benefit levels are locked into contracts that don't expire until 2003.

"Our costs are going up 5 or 6 percent a year," Call says, "and our revenue base is growing at half that."

The $41 million shortfall that's anticipated in Sims' 2002 budget could get worse, he adds: It doesn't account for the latest Federal Reserve interest-rate cut, which could cost the county an additional $500,000 in investment earnings.

If voters in November approve Initiative 747, which would limit property-tax increases to 1 percent a year, $2 million more could be lost. And if the economy continues to contract, sales-tax revenue could fall below projections.

Sims and the council have been gearing up for this budget all year. In February, Sims warned that 500 of the county's 13,000 jobs could be cut and entire programs could be axed.

Last month, the council approved his plan to consolidate six county departments into two effective Jan. 1, saving $2.5 million and eliminating 57 jobs. When he proposed the reorganization, Sims also suggested $3.7 million in related cuts in the affected agencies.

County monitoring of the health of lakes in suburban cities would be dropped. Extra staffing for the election office around Election Day would be reduced.

The council has held two all-day budget workshops. Members have discussed alternatives to close the deficit that range from limiting the jail population to selling "naming rights" to county parks.

Without offering specifics, Sims announced in May that his budget would propose cuts ranging from 6 percent for the sheriff's and prosecuting attorney's offices to 19 percent for the district courts.

Human-service cuts

Sims said he would cut $5 million — about one-third — from human-services programs. Reductions in the day-care subsidy program would account for about $1.2 million of that total, he said last week.

The county now pays an average of $300 per month per child to help provide child care for 405 suburban children from families some call the "working poor," those who make too much to qualify for welfare or most other government benefits, but still fall far short of affluence. Seattle has a similar program.

Sims said he would propose the subsidy be continued only for eligible families in unincorporated King County. Residents of suburban cities, such as Rebecca Seeman, would be cut off.

Sims has asked suburban cities to pick up the tab. Not one has agreed.

Paying the subsidy for the 45 Renton children now in the program would cost the city $215,000 a year, said Derek Todd, an aide to Mayor Jesse Tanner.

"These are our citizens, and we'd love to provide for them," Todd said, "but in these difficult times, it's difficult to lay another ongoing $200,000 expense on our taxpayers."

Suburban city officials are furious with Sims, he said, and plan to meet later this month to discuss the cut.

King County is legally obligated to operate courts, assess property and safeguard public health. It isn't required to subsidize day care or provide other social services. That's one reason they're targeted for such a large cut in Sims' budget.

Seeman says she appreciates the county's dilemma. But she'll still need to find another $229 a month somewhere if the council approves Sims' budget.

She wants everyone to know that she's no welfare queen. Seeman says she has worked since she was 16, and doesn't want to stop. But losing her day-care subsidy could set a long row of dominoes tumbling:

"Without the subsidy, I do not know how I will afford day care. I have to have day care to work. I have to work to support my family."

Eric Pryne can be reached at 206-464-2231 or epryne@seattletimes.com.