Drafter
Clerk 08/13/2009
Title
A MOTION establishing policy guidance for the funding of human services in the King County 2010 Budget Ordinance.
Body
WHEREAS, the 2009 law, justice, health and human services committee is charged with developing recommendations on policy direction for 2010 Budget Ordinance, and
WHEREAS, human services in King County are defined as a group of wide ranging programs designed to assist the county's most vulnerable citizens with services for older adults, youths and families at risk for involvement in the justice system, the unemployed, domestic violence and sexual assault survivors, treatment and counseling for the chemically dependent and mentally ill, veterans, developmentally disabled individuals and the homeless, and
WHEREAS, King County provides human services for two reasons:
1. To fulfill regional, contractual obligations with the state of Washington for the planning and provision of publicly funded services, such as mental health, substance abuse, veterans and developmental disabilities; and
2. To help the county meet state mandates for the provision of public health and criminal justice services in a more efficient and cost-effective manner, and
WHEREAS, over eighty-five percent of the county's human services are contracted to be performed by community-based agencies that provide direct services in communities across the county, and
WHEREAS, in 2007, the county funded human services that were provided to over five hundred eighty-three thousand families and individuals, and
WHEREAS, the King County 2009 Budget Ordinance reduced general fund support to human service programs that decrease use of the jail. Despite the county's adopted policy of providing human service programs that lessen jail use, these programs were considered "nonmandatory" in that they are not required by state law, and received disproportionate levels of reduction as compared to mandatory justice programs, and
WHEREAS, in the...

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