In February, the King County Executive proposed slashing Sheriff’s Office funding by more than $30 million within the face of a price range shortfall — an enormous hit in comparison with different county departments. Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall referred to as the proposal “extreme” and “devastating,” and warned it might minimize the variety of deputies serving unincorporated communities by half.
Many millions of dollars in cuts have been additionally aimed on the county’s prosecutors, courts, jails and different core companies of the legal justice system. In the meantime, whereas the speed of violent crime in King County has been trending downward, youth gun violence remains alarmingly high, according to a 2024 county year-end violence report, and public security is a prime concern amongst many citizens.
King County Govt Shannon Braddock has since proposed an answer to the price range disaster: a sales tax that would provide “new income devoted to public security and legal justice.” For the reason that Legislature gave counties the authority to impose a 0.1% native gross sales tax for legal justice wants with out going to voters, Braddock and the council have been in a position to swiftly enact the Protected and Steady Communities gross sales tax. It takes impact Oct. 1.
However how these {dollars} shall be used stays murky. Regardless of initially selling the brand new income for legal justice and public security makes use of, the manager cited a slew of social service packages which might be eligible for funding, together with some already funded via the Best Starts for Kids Levy, the Veterans, Seniors, & Human Services Levy and the Mental Illness and Drug Dependency Behavioral Health gross sales tax. The parameters of the brand new legal justice tax are so vaguely outlined in state regulation that King County leaders may decide to not use the cash to fund the Sheriff’s Workplace or the King County prosecuting legal professional’s workplace — which is going through a $15.5 million price range minimize — in any respect.
This vagueness ought to be an actual level of concern for taxpayers who’re involved in supporting regulation enforcement of their neighborhoods. Some council members have stated they wish to faucet into this new pot of taxpayer {dollars} for functions which might be solely distantly associated to regulation enforcement and legal justice, together with for “human services” and to fund “upstream investments” that embody extra everlasting housing and shelter for homeless folks — functions that, no matter significance, aren’t features of the county’s legal justice system. Voters shouldn’t overlook that this is identical governing physique that took away money from juvenile probation counselors to fund failing, unaccountable diversion programs whereas ignoring the warning indicators and irreparable injury to younger offenders and crime victims. Council members should earn our belief once they promise to prioritize public security.
Because the King County Council debates the best way to use this tax income this fall, residents ought to demand that this doesn’t change into a bait-and-switch scenario. Elected officers should prioritize addressing our
most urgent wants — the staffing disaster on the Sheriff’s Workplace and prosecution backlogs — and resist the temptation to unfold the estimated $193 million in biennial dollars elsewhere.
King County residents deserve a completely purposeful legal justice system and Sheriff’s Workplace. The stakes are excessive. We’d like patrols to implement visitors security as our roads become less safe. Violent crime, particularly among youth, stays excessive. We anticipate a fast response time after we name 911 throughout an emergency. It’s as much as voters to carry our elected officers accountable for offering a fundamental stage of regulation enforcement companies slightly than permitting monetary neglect of our police, prosecutors and courts to proceed.
