Pierce County Council Outlines 2021-23 Biennium Budget Priorities

PIERCE COUNTY, WA — It is budget time for Pierce County, and the Pierce County Council is giving new insight into its budget priorities.

Late last month, Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier unveiled his vision for the county, laying out a $3 billion budget proposal for the 2022-2023 biennium. Dammeier's announcement kicked off the council's budget season, and Thursday the Pierce County Council held the first of four biennial budget planning meetings. While much of what was discussed Thursday could change (there are still three more planning meetings ahead, plus a series of 10 biennial budget committee meetings in late October and early November before the council casts its final vote on the budget Nov. 23) the council is giving the public an early look at how it hopes to arrange the county's budget.

Council Budget Priorities

As part of Thursday's meeting, the council outlined 10 areas of high priority, which will be a large focus of the biennium budget. They are:

1. COVID-19 response and recovery. This includes spending to support the ongoing public health response, community resilience and economic recovery.
2. Housing affordability and supply. The council wants to prioritize increasing the "supply and diversity of housing that is accessible" to prevent low-income residents from losing their homes.
3. Homelessness and stable housing. The county council has committed to ending on-street homelessness by rapidly expanding services through the coming years.
4. Social justice and equity. "Reducing poverty, addressing community disparities, improving policing, while advancing social equity throughout the County is a key priority," the council writes.
5. Economy and workforce. This is tied in to COVID-19 recovery, and includes initiatives for job creation, entrepreneurship and workforce development.
6. Behavioral health systems. This year, the county began collecting a 0.1 percent sales tax to fund behavioral health programs. Now, the county has to determine how to best spend the estimated $27 million that tax will raise.
7. Youth and young adults. This includes programs to improve the health and social outcomes for young children, and preparing young adults to enter the workforce.
8. Environment and sustainability. In particular, the council says salmon recovery, improving water quality, and greenhouse gas reduction will be priorities.
9. Infrastructure needs. The council previously set aside ARPA funding to expand local broadband. This builds on that, adding initiatives for transit availability, water improvements, and investing in electric vehicles.
10. Leadership and innovation. Finally, the council wants to improve Pierce County's reputation as an "inclusive, collaborative, and innovative team" and as a regional leader.

“Ultimately our goal is to adopt a budget that aligns with Council’s identified priorities,” said Council Chair Derek Young in a statement. “That includes public safety, community and behavioral health, housing attainment, economic development, infrastructure, fiscal stewardship and funding the capital budget.”

The county council's priorities largely align with those shared by County Executive Bruce Dammeier, whose budget proposal highlighted spending in homelessness, affordable housing and behavioral health as well. One difference, however, can be seen in Dammeier's stated commitment to public safety and policing.

"We have to, in this budget, battle rising crime and build community trust in the system," Dammeier said at his budget unveiling.

The executive's plans included a $2.1 million investment in body cameras and dash cameras for county deputies. It would also set aside $1.54 million to create four new positions in the Pierce County Sheriff's Department, including hiring an additional internal affairs detective focused entirely on issues of police accountability.

The county council's priority outline does not specifically touch on the issue of police accountability, though the council did note during deliberations that Dammeier's budget proposal would spend 46 percent of 2022-2023 budget on public safety, down from 48.6 in 2020.

A good amount of debate and discussion remains before any spending is finalized, but the council did outline a few specific programs it would be fighting for, including plans to spend $2.3 million on social justice initiatives.

The next budget meeting will be Friday, followed by two more budget retreats on Oct. 14 and 15. After that, the budget will go to the Committee of the Whole for discussion from Oct. 20 to Nov. 12.

>> Read the full list of Pierce County Council's 2021 Priorities.