County faces hard budget choices

The Spokane County Commission will hold a public hearing Monday to pass its 2009 budget. Problem is, county leaders still haven’t decided which departments will face layoffs and which outside agencies will receive funding.

The commission is expected to pass the $146 million budget Monday while leaving the toughest decisions to be hashed out in three last-minute meetings this week. State law requires the budget be finalized by Dec. 8.

So far, the county has asked department heads to slash requests by $3.2 million. That’s expected to cause about 30 layoffs, but it’s not yet known where those job cuts will be made.

“I don’t mean to sound harsh, but we have one week to come up with a budget,” Commissioner Todd Mielke told his colleagues last week. “It’s never a happy process.”

Commissioner Mark Richard said he generally agreed with fellow Republican Mielke on the budget’s broad strokes, but he had several questions:

“Can we keep a 10 percent reserve in light of the economic times? Can we stick to the budget cuts we asked for? And are we comfortable with the impact on those departments?” he asked.

Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich told the board last week that his $1.25 million in requested cuts, split between the jail and the Sheriff’s Office, could require him to freeze or eliminate 16 positions while doing nothing to solve his overtime problem.

And on Tuesday, Juvenile Court Administrator Bonnie Bush and Superior Court Judge Neal Rielly said the requested $195,000 in cuts would severely hamper successful programs that steer juveniles toward rehabilitation programs rather than detention. Additional state cuts mean the court could be losing more than $800,000.

“We can’t operate under those cuts,” Bush said. “We would have to put those kids in detention instead of programs.”

She pointed out that Spokane County’s juvenile offender programs have become a state and national model, reducing the number of kids in detention by half while also reducing repeat offenses. The programs working in juvenile court are exactly the same ones the county is trying to start with the jail.

“We should be applauded and protected,” Bush said.

Rielly said he and Bush realize the commission has “an impossible job. But we are going to have kids committing more crimes. It’s going to end up costing this community a heck of lot more.”

Commissioner Bonnie Mager acknowledged that the county is facing a difficult quandary: It’s asking existing departments to cut while trying to spend new money for criminal justice programs like those in juvenile court that are designed to eventually save money by keeping adults out of the Spokane County Jail.

“We’ve made quite a commitment to revamping community corrections,” Mager said.

She pointed out that the commission is expected to go to the public in 2009 and ask for tax increases to pay for a $245 million jail. At the same time, the county doesn’t know if it has the money for early case resolution and pre-trial programs that are designed to help offenders with life skills to turn them away from crime.

“We basically told the citizenry that we are not going to build a new warehouse but we were going to revamp the criminal justice system,” she said. “I think we need to show the public that we are making progress.”

Richard, who has spearheaded the effort for the new programs, added: “I’m trying to find ways to splice, cut and save to meet these priorities.”

Richard and Mager said they are willing to dip into the reserve to pay for the programs.

“Depending on what the solution is … I’m willing to consider that,” Richard said. “I think we are here because of a sudden anomaly in the economy.”

But Mielke said he was not willing to take that step.

“I understand you don’t want to lose momentum with the stakeholders,” Mielke said. “I don’t think we are going to see an upturn in the economy in 2009. I don’t think we’ve seen the bottom yet. I’m not willing to dip into the 10 percent.

“But if we are going to try to get our hands around in the jail as far as overtime, I think we need to fund pre-trial services.”

Both Mager and Richard said that in the coming week they want to go through each department and either reduce the cuts or find other “soft spots” where they could cut more.

But Mielke said he doesn’t know where they will find more to cut. He used Juvenile Court as an example.

“If we choose to restore them … you have to take it from someone else,” he said.

County CEO Marshall Farnell suggested that the commissioners set the dollar amount Monday and then go over the numbers all week until they settle on the final cuts, new programs and requests for funding from organizations such as Greater Spokane Inc.

“Democracy is very expensive,” he said.