Drafter
Clerk 05/06/2002
Title
A MOTION exploring options to achieve long-term stable funding for county park and recreation services and establishing a work program for the executive and the department of natural resources and parks.
Body
WHEREAS, King County owns over twenty-five thousand acres of park, recreation and open space lands and over one hundred miles of trails, including one hundred eighty-three different parks, sixteen pools, six community centers, a golf course and an aquatic center, and
WHEREAS, as King County has increased in population, the county has worked aggressively to acquire new parks and open space lands, which are an important component of the quality of life in the region, and
WHEREAS, the public has enthusiastically supported a series of major park acquisition efforts over the years, beginning with the Forward Thrust campaign in the late 1960s, and continuing on with open space campaigns and other initiatives, and
WHEREAS, the parks and recreation division estimates that some three million people visit King County parks each year, with visitor and user levels growing steadily with population growth, and
WHEREAS, King County has seen a remarkable growth in general population and particularly in the incorporated population over the last twenty years, and
WHEREAS, the trend toward incorporation and urbanization has impacted county revenue generating ability and the cost of running county government, and
WHEREAS, King County is required by state law to provide a number of services out of its general unrestricted revenues, and
WHEREAS, the rate of growth in the cost of providing state mandated services in King County has far exceeded the rate of growth of county general unrestricted revenues that constitute the majority of the current expense fund, and
WHEREAS, the county cannot continue to sustain its current expense fund programs at existing levels, given the projected growth in cost of services and revenues, and...

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