To the editor:

Island County government is at a crucial juncture. Drastically reduced revenues have required unprecedented reductions in all county departments. The board of Island County commissioners has prioritized these cuts to minimize the impact to our community’s quality of life, public safety and our local economy.

This is a challenging task, and we request your input. A preliminary budget is available for review on our Web site www.island

county.net/commissioners/. At 10:15 a.m. Monday, Dec. 7 the board of Island County commissioners will hold a public hearing on our 2010 budget, and we welcome your comments by phone, e-mail or in person.

Since this is the third in a series of budget reductions to our current expense fund, some perspective is important as one views the current budget proposal. In December 2008 there was a shortfall of $2 million, balanced by staff layoffs and taking money from the fund balance (savings account). A mid-year reduction of an additional $2 million, slashed budgets in many departments, further reducing our staff levels. Each of the three county commissioners donated back 10 percent of our paychecks. Commissioner Angie Homola individually donated an additional $5,000.

A large portion of the cuts were in planning and community development due to the downturn in the local construction industry. Administrative departments, public health and support services all took big hits. Our parks and WSU Extension office were cut severely.

County offices are now struggling to meet mandated requirements, and we do not expect to see additional resources coming to relieve this situation for awhile. Hours of operation will likely be reduced in an effort to meet this crisis.

To balance the 2010 budget with a shortfall of an additional $1.2 million, the board has invited input from our six union groups, fellow county leaders and our community partners. Limited resources can breed dissent and competition.

But we have held that though this crisis presents a huge challenge, it is also an opportunity to strengthen our relationships and look for innovative ways to provide vital public service in this economy. The conversations have been difficult, but fruitful for enhancing our capacity for collaboration, creative problem-solving and open communication. That is not to say it has been without controversy and painful decisions we had hoped we would not have to make.

The reality is that while some departments had single-digit reductions of their budgets, others took such large reductions earlier in the year that there is little left to trim this time. The sheriff’s office was spared the brunt of the previous cuts with only a 2-percent reduction, while our parks department was cut 50 percent.

This time, we are asking the sheriff to reduce his $5 million budget by 5 percent for 2010. He has flexibility to address this reduction, and he has chosen to avoid the impact to his patrol deputies. Sheriff Mark Brown’s proposal is to absorb the current emergency management department staffing into his office operation to meet the target.

One suggestion we received was to suspend funding of some county services. Eliminating funding for our WSU Extension office, or senior services, for example, has consequences which may not be apparent at first. Both of these programs leverage the several hundred thousand dollars in local resources and bring millions of additional dollars into our local economy. Though Island County has taken substantive reductions in both budgets, suspending all funding to these programs would take away both the essential support services, educational and quality-of-life contributions they provide, it also would have a far-reaching financial impact to our local economy at a time when it is most fragile.

Counties across the state are struggling with these same issues. In comparison, we are fortunate here to have a relatively low crime rate, a high quality of life and a vast resource of able and willing volunteers upon which we depend a great deal. It is this rich fabric of community which will sustain us and bring us through this difficult time.

Please contact us with your comments.

Helen Price Johnson

Island County Commissioner