UPDATE: 20 minutes? Ha. The council’s still in recess until at least 1:00 pm. We’ll have an update when they reconvene.
The King County Council is in caucus for 20 minutes, after an hourlong discussion of a new property-tax levy to pay for public safety, particularly the King County Sheriff’s Office. The new proposal comes in response to the defeat yesterday of a measure that would have put a 0.2 percent sales-tax increase on the August 17 ballot.
The measure, which would raise property taxes on a $400,000 house about $34 a year, would eliminate funding for other levies, including several that were approved by voters countywide. According to a presentation by council staffer Patrick Hamacher, the proposal, if approved by voters, would:
• Reduce funding for the Automated Fingerprint Identification System, which helps law enforcement rapidly identify suspects, by $3 million a year. Voters approved a six-year levy funding AFIS in 2007.
• Reduce funding for the county’s flood control district, which helps protect county residents from flood disasters, by $10 million a year. An increase in that levy was approved by the council in 2007.
• Reduce funding for the county parks-expansion levy, which pays to buy land and development rights for rural and regional parks and trails, by $1.5 million a year. That levy was approved by voters in 2007.
• Eliminate the King Conservation District levy, saving $6 million a year. The conservation district promotes sustainable land and water management, provides grants for classes and programs across King County, and does habitat restoration.
