Initiative 1033 fails – State budget woes continue

It is your classic good news/bad news scenario; Initiative 1033 was soundly rejected by the voters but the State budget deficit grows and there will be impacts on cities.

Many believe Initiative 1033 failed due to concerns by citizens with impacts on their city and or county. Local officials did an outstanding job of outlining impacts on local services and programs and most voters decided further damage was simply unacceptable. Please see the article in this Bulletin for further information including a link to county by county data on the vote. The number of counties that voted "no" is impressive.

Local governments are key partners with the State and we all benefited from the defeat of I -1033 as we all suffer from a poor economy and slowing revenue streams unable to keep up with growing service expectations and costs.

A little over a month ago the State expected an additional deficit of approximately $1.1 - $1.5 billion for their biennial budget, after an initial reduction of $9 billion when first adopting the budget this past legislative session. The most recent figures note a deficit of $1.7 billion which may grow to $2 billion by the time the Governor presents her supplemental budget in December. Two billion may not sound like a great deal after cutting $9 billion but remember there is no more federal stimulus help and most if not all of the "transfers" from other accounts has already been done. An additional $2 billion is significant and there will be impacts on cities.

Please, we need your help over the next two months. Remind legislators that you also are experiencing budget difficulties and making difficult cuts impacting key programs and services. We could use some help from the Legislature and Governor. For helpful hints on working with your Legislator at home, click here.

The AWC Board adopted three preliminary Major Priorities in September mindful of the economy and tough budget times for the State – meaning direct state financial assistance is extremely unlikely. The Board instructed us to seek and we ask that you help us secure:

• More flexibility with our current revenues and fewer State requirements. The State "flexed" their revenues in adopting their last budget. Why can’t we have some of the same flexibility and fewer requirements or more time to meet those regulations given fewer resources;
• An additional tool that helps us address our transportation needs – a street utility. The street utility is locally imposed and will aid in the maintenance of a key infrastructure component critical to businesses and economic development efforts;
• Stormwater funding to address current requirements imposed upon cities. If the underlying policy and objective is appropriate then simply provide resources to meet that policy.

Do you have a proposal to include in our City Flexibility Package? Please submit them by clicking here. All entries will be eligible to win one free registration to our City Legislative Action Conference taking place in Olympia , January 27-28.

The upcoming session will be extremely difficult given the economy and additional budget cuts coming. Please, we need you to talk to your legislators now and secure their support for existing city allocations and the above mentioned legislative proposals.

Thanks for your work on I-1033!! Continue the discussions with your legislators on the value of city services and programs.

[ return to top ] [ next article ]