“Facts are stupid things,” Ronald Reagan once said.
But they’re mighty handy in a pinch.
With the annual holiday slowdown of legislative action in Snohomish County making news items as scarce as an empty fruitcake wrapper, we present an assortment of tantalizing tidbits, fun factoids and not entirely stale statistics.
All share the same source: the budget documents used to make the 2005 Snohomish County budget.
In no particular order:
* Fires in Snohomish County cause an average loss of $12.4 million a year. And of the more than 1,400 fires investigated by the county fire marshal between Jan. 1, 2000, and June 1, 2004, 25 percent were linked to arson. But 65 percent were accidental, and totaled more than $33.3 million in damages.
* Between October 2003 and June 2004, almost 4,600 permit notices the county sent out were returned. That means the county spent $6,000 on mail that never landed in the right mailbox.
* The county’s Solid Waste Division expects to handle 455,000 tons of garbage in 2005. About 14,000 tons will be dropped off by people at the county’s five rural drop sites. In 2003, the county made $147,885 from 8,075 tons of materials dropped and recycled. In 2003, trash dropped off at county facilities included 25,778 pounds of fluorescent lamps.
* The Snohomish County Jail kitchen makes about 3,000 meals every day, costing around 90 cents a meal.
* Flood-plain maps that the county uses are 25 years old, and many are obsolete. Some maps indicate that certain areas are free from flooding, but experts say those places could be under 3 or 4 feet of water during a flood.
* The state Department of Licensing says there are 633,786 vehicles registered in the county. With a population of 628,000, that means there’s a vehicle for everyone who lives here, and some to spare.
* The county collected $16,250 in business license fees from exotic dancers and $500 in fees from exotic dancer studios in 2003.
* The county issues about 3,850 marriage licenses a year and collected $207,900 in marriage license revenues in 2003. The county’s cut was $30,800.
* The number of lawsuits against the county filed by employees has doubled over the past decade.
* The county has 196 bridges, and 37 are ranked as prime candidates for replacement.
Claim of the week: An Everett man wants $15 from the county. While he was in the county jail, a guard mistakenly gave the man’s commissary items to another inmate, who then ate the man’s supply of Ramen, caramel corn, hot pork rinds and oatmeal cookies.
Coming up: The Snohomish County Council will choose a new chairman for 2005 at the council’s administrative meeting next week.
How you can get involved: The meeting is 11 a.m. Monday 3 in the Jackson Boardroom on the sixth floor of the County Administration Building.
Reporter Brian Kelly covers county government. He can be reached at 425-339-3422.
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