One of the most challenging tasks facing the King County Council is shaping the county’s $4 billion budget.
Every year, we grapple with tough choices. Do we add more Metro bus routes or increase security on the routes we have? Do we immunize more children or keep our public health clinics from closing?
As Budget Committee chairman, I am leading a new Citizen Engagement Initiative to involve residents like you in shaping the county’s 2008 budget. We want your input so that your regional government better reflects your priorities.
First, we are conducting small workshops with a random sampling of county citizens. Our goal is to hear from a cross-section of our population based on factors like income, geography, age and race so that the results have statistical validity.
We recently completed the first workshop with citizens from Shoreline and Lake Forest Park. What did we learn? When prioritized against other county services, funding for public health — and specifically public health clinics — consistently came out on top. For current bus riders, greater frequency ranked most important, while non-riders want increased reliability before leaving their cars at home and hopping on the bus.
Next, we will draw a larger population into the process at two public forums. All citizens will be invited to weigh-in on your budget priorities using “interactive polling.” As one of the first 250 participants, you will be asked to enter your opinions on a variety of priorities on a hand-held electronic device. Your input will be recorded and reported to the group in real-time.
The council will also seek input on our Web site (www.metrokc.gov/council) beginning around March 20. By May, we will compile all the opinions garnered from the workshops, forums and online, and use this information to guide our budget process later this year.
While ambitious in scope, the Citizen Engagement Initiative represents a return to the fundamentals of democracy: it allows everyone to have a say in how this county spends your dollars. Through this process, next year’s budget will better reflect the priorities of all King County citizens.
Please join me for our first Town Hall forum on budget priorities Wednesday, March 28, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Olympic View Elementary in North Seattle, 504 N.E. 95th St. We’ll start with a public reception at 6:30 p.m. I look forward to hearing from you.
Bob Ferguson serves on the Metropolitan King County Council and represents District 1, which includes
Shoreline, Lake Forest Park, Kenmore, Bothell, the
surrounding unincorporated areas, parts of Woodinville and North Seattle. He can be reached at bob.ferguson@metrokc.gov
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