King County criminal justice budget to be cut

  • By Amy Daybert Enterprise editor
  • Tuesday, October 21, 2008 5:24pm

The King County criminal justice budget will be cut more than 11 percent next year as a result of the county’s $93 million budget shortfall, those attending a Town Hall learned Oct. 20.

“I’m really concerned that we’re going down the road of having two classes of public safety,” King County Sheriff Sue Rahr said during the meeting at Shoreline Center. “If you happen to live in the city, you’re going to get a higher level of protection than if you live in unincorporated King County.”

In 2009, the Sheriff’s Office budget cuts will include $8.8 million and a loss of 79 positions, according to Rahr.

The impact of planned cuts also include the dismissal of two dispatchers for Animal Control, changes to the hours someone can apply for a weapons permit and the loss of a warrants detective despite a backlog of 30,000 unserved warrants.

Officers will still respond to neighborhood drug concerns, Rahr said, but the Sheriff’s Office will not investigate crimes to property amounting to less than $10,000.

“This is not going to be one year tighten up our belts and move on,” Rahr said. “We’re looking at cuts again in 2010 and 2011. We’re not going to impact our ability to respond to a 911 calls for help; we’re cutting everything else but we’re protecting that. I cannot make that promise for when we do our budget for 2010.”

The Prosecuting Attorney’s Office began filing certain misdemeanors in District Court in order to save costs, according to King County prosecuting attorney Dan Satterberg.

“I’m not standing here saying those are good policies,” he said. “A year ago I was really proud of our system … now it’s starting to crumble.”

He expects another $40 million cut in both 2010 and 2011, he said.

King County courts will also be affected by the shortfall in the upcoming budget. The District Court can anticipate the loss of 24 court staff and a budget shortfall of $2.6 million, according to King County District Court presiding judge Barbara Linde. The Superior Court will lose 41 positions and almost $7.7 million, King County Superior Court presiding judge Bruce Hilyer said.

“This is by far the largest cut ever proposed and it caused us to be very concerned about the system we built,” Satterberg said.

Shoreline Police chief Dan Pingrey does not believe the city will be impacted through increased public safety costs or decreasing levels of service as a result of contracting the King County Sheriff’s Office. A proposed budget of $700,000 is included in the city’s budget for police.

“In terms of overall (King County Sheriff’s Office) contract cost, the budget is fairly reasonable,” he said.

In fact, difficult cuts for the King County Sheriff’s Office may benefit the city to some degree, Pingrey said, adding that the loss of sheriff positions in the fraud and forgery unit could open similar positions within Shoreline and lead to more “enhanced services” in the specific area.

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