Related story: Ohio state patrol facing cash crunch
By Scott Gutierrez
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
SEATTLE — King County Sheriff Sue Rahr, Prosecutor Dan Satterberg and elected judges plan a press conference Thursday morning to discuss the potential impacts of a $68 million budget shortfall on the criminal justice system and public safety.
The sheriff, who says she’s facing some of the most drastic cuts, has been asked to chop $7.5 million from next year’s budget, which could force her to lay off up to 100 deputies. The Sheriff’s Office would likely close units that specialize in cold cases, Internet crimes and identity theft, and would shutter its storefront neighborhood centers, according to a statement issued Thursday.
Officials planned to meet with reporters at the Courthouse at 11 a.m.
King County Executive Ron Sims still is months away from making his budget proposal to the County Council, which must adopt it by the end of the year. A cooling economy and a dip in the housing market have crimped property and sales taxes, which feed the general fund.
In preliminary budget planning, all criminal justice agencies, which accounted for about 70 percent of the $648 million general fund spending in 2008, have been asked to make 8 percent “across-the-board” cuts. The King County Jail and the jail’s health services could lose up to $11.2 million, despite several cases in which inmates died of infections and medical conditions that prompted an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department.
None of the figures are final.
In addition, the Prosecutor’s Office fears cuts of $3.7 million, which would cost one-sixth of the attorneys handling criminal prosecutions. King County District and Superior Courts anticipate cuts to specialty drug courts and mental health courts aimed at reducing recidivism and public defender services.
Copyright 2008 The Seattle Post-Intelligencer