In February, the King County Executive proposed slashing Sheriff’s Office funding by more than $30 million in the face of a budget shortfall — a big hit compared to other county departments. Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall called the proposal “severe” and “devastating,” and warned it would cut the number of deputies serving unincorporated communities by half.
Many millions of dollars in cuts were also aimed at the county’s prosecutors, courts, jails and other core services of the criminal justice system. Meanwhile, while the rate of violent crime in King County has been trending downward, youth gun violence remains alarmingly high, according to a 2024 county year-end violence report, and public safety is a top concern among many voters.
King County Executive Shannon Braddock has since proposed a solution to the budget crisis: a sales tax that would provide “new revenue dedicated to public safety and criminal justice.” Since the Legislature gave counties the authority to impose a 0.1% local sales tax for criminal justice needs without going to voters, Braddock and the council were able to swiftly enact the Safe and Stable Communities sales tax. It takes effect Oct. 1.
But how these dollars will be used remains murky. Despite initially promoting the new revenue for criminal justice and public safety uses, the executive cited a slew of social service programs that are eligible for funding, including some already funded through the Best Starts for Kids Levy, the Veterans, Seniors, & Human Services Levy and the Mental Illness and Drug Dependency Behavioral Health sales tax. The parameters of the new criminal justice tax are so vaguely defined in state law that King County leaders could opt not to use the money to fund the Sheriff’s Office or the King County prosecuting attorney’s office — which is facing a $15.5 million budget cut — at all.
This vagueness should be a real point of concern for taxpayers who are interested in supporting law enforcement in their neighborhoods. Some council members have said they want to tap into this new pot of taxpayer dollars for purposes that are only distantly related to law enforcement and criminal justice, including for “human services” and to fund “upstream investments” that include more permanent housing and shelter for homeless people — purposes that, regardless of importance, aren’t functions of the county’s criminal justice system. Voters shouldn’t forget that this is the same governing body that took away money from juvenile probation counselors to fund failing, unaccountable diversion programs while ignoring the warning signs and irreparable damage to young offenders and crime victims. Council members must earn our trust when they promise to prioritize public safety.
As the King County Council debates how to use this tax revenue this fall, residents should demand that this doesn’t become a bait-and-switch situation. Elected officials must prioritize addressing our
most pressing needs — the staffing crisis at the Sheriff’s Office and prosecution backlogs — and resist the temptation to spread the estimated $193 million in biennial dollars elsewhere.
King County residents deserve a fully functional criminal justice system and Sheriff’s Office. The stakes are high. We need patrols to enforce traffic safety as our roads become less safe. Violent crime, particularly among youth, remains high. We expect a quick response time when we call 911 during an emergency. It’s up to voters to hold our elected officials accountable for providing a basic level of law enforcement services rather than allowing financial neglect of our police, prosecutors and courts to continue.
