The County Council has stated there is a $70 million budget crisis to have cuts in courts and law enforcement.

I was surprised by the opinion of Julia Patterson (Renton Reporter, My Turn) about what caused this budget crisis. Patterson and the County Council continually are using initiatives that were passed by the people like initiative 747 for the problems with the county budget. Sims and the County Council are not listening to the county residents when the people pass these initiatives, including the downsizing of the County Council from 13 to nine and they continued spending like there is no tomorrow and are still doing it today. With all the annexations where unincorporated county properties are going into the cities, the county should have known there would be a loss of revenue to the county and the county has failed to adjust accordingly. The county should make the adjustments that are needed to balance a budget with the revenues being received. The public voted to downsize the County Council; now it’s time for the County Council to step up to the plate and downsize to seven council members.

Parks, levee repair, foot ferries service, funding human services, provide basic services like courts, 911 and Medic One should be taken care of by the regular tax revenues. It’s calling a crisis so we have to have a special levy to fund the crisis or the County Council will just raise taxes.

The County Council is trying to put the fear in the people and is in the process of putting together a tax package to vote on in November to fix their need to spend. Let’s see how it plays out.

George Rock

Renton