EVERETT — Many of the county’s elected leaders say they’ve been left in the dark while Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon decides how to spend tax dollars beginning in January.
Reardon is scheduled to unveil his proposed budget for 2009 and 2010 on Thursday. He’s kept his plans for spending — and potential cuts — secret for months, officials say, and Reardon is resolute that he won’t talk about them until he’s ready.
“It still has not been finally approved by the executive,” Reardon’s spokesman Christopher Schwarzen said Tuesday. “As such, it is not a public document.”
Other county leaders Tuesday said they fear Reardon will propose slashing their budgets and staff without offering them a chance to review options. County government already faces a $9 million projected shortfall this year. Hiring in all departments was frozen last month, and lean times are expected to continue.
Reardon should do more to keep department heads informed, county Auditor Carolyn Weikel said. Reardon has been criticized in the past for being secretive.
“I don’t know if the executive’s office is proposing across the board a 5 percent decrease or something like that,” Weikel said. “I have no idea if they are proposing something like that. Are they going to let me, the elected official of this department, determine where that 5 percent should come from?”
Weikel, along with Prosecutor Janice Ellis, Clerk Sonya Kraski, Sheriff John Lovick, Assessor Cindy Portmann and Treasurer Kirke Sievers, released a joint statement Tuesday that expressed fear that Reardon will recommend specific cuts for each department without getting the insight of the county’s elected leaders.
Weikel said she and the others were elected to manage their departments, including their budgets. They worry Reardon and his advisers are trying to usurp their authority.
Schwarzen said Weikel and the other elected officials were involved in the budget process and met with the executive’s staff to discuss their needs.
“It has been a transparent process,” he said.
He stressed that neither the public nor any of the county’s other elected officials, including the five-member County Council, will see Reardon’s proposed budget until Thursday, when Reardon plans to present his budget at a press conference.
That’s when Reardon’s staff has decided the document will become public, Schwarzen said.
The budget will cover 2009 and 2010. It is the first time the county government has created a two-year budget.
Elected department heads submitted their budget proposals months ago, Schwarzen said. Since then, Reardon’s staff has worked to create a balanced budget.
Schwarzen added that the County Council this year will receive the proposed budget a full month earlier than it has in previous years. This will allow council members more time to consider and approve a final budget before January, he said.
“We have not been provided with any specific information on what the executive will be recommending for our budgets, which makes it a challenge to plan for these difficult economic times,” Kraski said in the statement.
“There are plenty of rumors, but no solid information,” Ellis said.
Reardon knows that other elected officials are worried, Weikel said.
“I believe that the executive’s office could be communicating more with elected officials, with employees, and with the citizens of Snohomish County as to where we are exactly in our financial standing,” she said. “We want to be helpful. We want to make educated decisions together.”
Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com.
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