Citizens expect government to make the most of their tax dollars. They’ve voted often in recent years to slash their taxes, an indication that government is falling short.
The reaction among city, county and state leaders has largely been to tighten their belts, asking agencies across the board to get by with less. But once the most obvious efficiency improvements have been made, once services have been reduced to a level where they aren’t doing much good, what more can be done?
Perhaps that’s the time to go back to the drawing board and ask what government’s real priorities should be.
That’s what is being undertaken in Snohomish County government, where Executive Aaron Reardon has launched a new way of formulating the county budget. Called the Priorities of Government, it seeks to determine and rank the most important services county government provides. Top priorities receive funding, lower priorities don’t. It’s that simple.
Identifying those priorities, of course, won’t be simple at all. That’s where you come in.
Your help is needed in setting county government’s priorities. A series of "community conversations" will begin next week, and the county wants citizens to voice their views on priority-based budgeting. Citizen ideas will be collected and tabulated, and will form the basis for the budget process that will follow.
Priority-based budgeting was used on a limited basis at the state level in 2003, and helped resolve a $2.6 billion budget shortfall. In Snohomish County, it offers the best promise for plugging what could be a $16 million deficit each of the next two years while ensuring that county government’s most important tasks get done.
As it becomes a way of life in the years to come, it should also provide greater accountability, as departments with the proven ability to deliver priority services efficiently stay at the top of the funding list. Add to that a new Web-based tool called SnoStat (www.co.snohomish.wa.us, click on "SnoStat Performance Measurements") that allows citizens to see what they’re getting for their county tax dollars, and you have a level of transparency that will quickly expose any government waste while rewarding efficiency.
Better government is a vague idea that’s offered at campaign time. Priority-based budgeted is a model that might actually deliver it. There’s still time to get in on the ground floor.
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