EVERETT — The Snohomish County Council passed a 2012 budget Monday that pays for a new customs building at Paine Field and a new mental-health drug court.
The budget also includes a small property-tax increase in unincorporated areas to pay for road work.
Council Chairman Dave Somers, who recommended the plan a week ago, called it “a balanced, fiscally responsible budget.” In comments after the vote, Somers said county leaders have to accept that many cuts from the past three years are here to stay.
“We know that these cuts aren’t temporary, but are a new reality,” he said.
The budget passed 5-0.
It keeps $206 million in operating funds, a smidge more than $204 million in 2011. Payroll would be about 2,600, shrinking slightly compared to last year.
The unanimous council vote doesn’t mean that all of the decisions sit well with everyone.
“You’ve got to figure there’s more good than bad in it,” said John Koster, the council’s lone Republican.
Koster, the immediate past president of the Washington State Association of Counties, said Snohomish County’s budget remains in much better shape than several other counties in the state.
In the end, Koster voted for the overall budget, but not for the part that increases the roads levy by 1 percent. The increase applies to the total levy collected from property in unincorporated areas, not to individual tax bills. It would raise an extra $575,000 for the county. The annual increase for a $276,000 house, the most recent average assessment for unincorporated areas, would be less than $5 per year.
Councilman Dave Gossett has spent much time during the past year drawing attention to a shortfall in the county’s long-term road funding. About a third of the projects in the county’s six-year road plan have either gone away or have been delayed, he noted.
Next year’s budget also strives to make Paine Field more competitive as an aerospace hub.
It includes $500,000 for a new customs building at the county-run airport. The facility could help the Boeing Co. and other firms save tens of thousands of dollars on international parts shipments by avoiding the need to stop first at another airport to clear customs.
The budget also includes $100,000 for a mental-health court to divert people with serious mental conditions from the criminal justice system and ultimately save taxpayers money. Funding for the pilot program would come from a tenth-of-a-percent sales tax the county collects for mental-health and addiction programs.
The council’s 2012 proposal aligns closely with the recommended budget County Executive Aaron Reardon proposed in September.
“The council made the fewest changes to this year’s recommended budget than any in recent history,” Deputy Executive Gary Haakenson said.
Haakenson thanked elected officials, department heads and staff for working hard on a budget that should continue to provide services the public has come to expect.
Reardon has 10 working days to sign or veto the council’s budget once the council forwards him official paperwork. His staff said he is in California until next week.
Even with the executive’s blessing, budget work for 2012 likely won’t end this year.
County leaders could be back soon to make further changes, since they still don’t know what cuts the state government has in store. Lawmakers are scheduled to convene a special legislative session in Olympia on Nov. 28.
“We’ll see what happens with the Legislature,” Koster said, “and I suspect we’ll be back here in March, guys.”
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