We all deserve a county government that is restored to sound financial footing, not one lurching from crisis to crisis. That’s why the budget I have proposed for 2011 resets King County’s finances to meet new economic realities and be sustainable over time.

The premise is simple. In partnership with our employees, we recently launched a program of continuous improvement, with the goal of increasing productivity in each agency by three percent each year. Three percent in increased productivity saves about $20 million.

We expect the General Fund shortfall for 2012 and the years following to be $15 million to $20 million every year – a gap we can close through efficiencies.

If we stick to this plan, if we are focused and disciplined, we can indeed stabilize county finances so that you can be assured of getting the services you need.

In the short term, however, in order to close a $60 million shortfall in the General Fund for 2011, more than 350 positions must be eliminated.

I’m taking further cuts in my own office and have frozen the salaries of my appointed staff. My fellow elected officials have joined these efforts. More than half of the county’s unionized employees have tentatively agreed or formally voted to forgo their contractual cost-of-living adjustments for 2011.

We have already stripped the General Fund down to only those services that are legally required, so that most of the services that remain are in criminal justice – deputies, prosecutors, corrections, and courts. A cut to the General Fund of necessity means a reduction to criminal justice.

These are reductions I do not want to make but which must be made in order for the budget to be in balance.

I said in March that we would not make draconian cuts like these without first asking the people, “Are you willing to forgo these services?”

To maintain the current level of public safety, the Legislature provided counties with only one viable tool – a small sales tax for criminal justice. Five counties have already enacted such a measure.

The public can choose in November to maintain just the current level of criminal justice services by raising revenues. Or, the public can choose the sharply reduced level of public safety reflected in this budget.

Whichever choice you make, I am working to create a government that is sustainable over time and that lives within its means, and our employees are stepping up to the challenge.

Dow Constantine is King County Executive. Reach him at Dow.Constantine@kingcounty.gov