Budget to pass despite protest

Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon backed away from his threat to veto the County Council’s 2007 budget.

Instead, he criticized the council in a letter Friday for spending more revenue than the county expects to collect in 2007, a move he called deficit spending.

Reardon sent the budget ordinance to the County Council on Friday unsigned, which means it becomes effective Jan. 1 without his explicit approval, officials said.

“A veto would be nothing more than a protest, and would be overridden,” Reardon said.

County Council members could not be reached for comment.

The county’s budget for 2007 was approved 5-0 by the County Council on Nov. 20. The budget is roughly $700 million for all county operations and construction projects.

It includes more than $200 million in general fund spending on county operations, law enforcement and courts.

Council members added spending and anticipated more revenue than was included in Reardon’s proposed budget. At the time, council members defended the spending, which included about $1 million more to hire more sheriff’s deputies.

The council’s spending plan draws on about $1 million Reardon wanted left in the bank after covering the costs of county programs.

“I can’t support that decision, and that’s why I did not sign the budget,” Reardon said. “My concern is that a savings account needs to be in place in the event of a rainy day or natural disaster.”

Without that money, the “result is layoffs, or the result is tax increases,” he said.

Reardon said he failed to persuade the council to reduce its spending proposals.

County policy requires an 11 percent reserve account for emergencies and to cover daily operations. Reardon said he would prefer a 14 percent reserve, something he has pushed for with the council and the Charter Review Commission.

After its 2007 spending, the county expects to have $22 million to $23 million in the bank for reserves, which meets the policy, County Council vice chairman Dave Gossett said last month.