Regarding the article, “Hearing to focus on tax proposal to battle heroin, homelessness”: How about a process review?
Before we put another tax hike into place to fund more law, justice and corrections in Snohomish County, I would submit that just as in business, an independent process review of current practices, management and how we do these functions should occur; more often then not these reviews help identify ineffective/inefficient business-as-usual practices that need can and should be changed and yes, sometimes even lead to a reduction in personnel needed to perform those improved processes and practices.
A 2014 article by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities suggests that jurisdictions can reduce these costs, without harming public safety, by doing such things as: reclassifying low-level felonies to misdemeanors where appropriate, expanding the use of alternatives to jail, shortening jail terms and eliminating jail sentences for technical violations of parole/probation where no new crime has been committed — among other ideas. Important to making these changes work in reducing overall costs there should be accompanying adoption of planning and budgeting mechanisms that can help decision-makers shift priorities quickly:
1. Create a high-quality, long-term forecast of the savings from specific reforms made available to lawmakers when they are considering those reforms.
2. Create a process to estimate the annual savings from the reforms once enacted.
3. Establish a mechanism to shift those savings to productive uses, especially human capital investments (read: prevention and intervention).
4. Establish an ongoing “independent” commission empowered to monitor implementation and enforce compliance, as necessary, with the reforms.
Jim Bloss
Monroe
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