Thurston County Budget Crisis

Today in the Letters to the Editor in The Olympian, there are two letters that talk about the Thurston County Budget. The first is another blow by Dan Kimball and the judges. They talk about their services are mandated and it's going to be hard to cut them further:

"Our offices represent the major priorities of government: public safety and the rule of law. In responding to ongoing fiscal realities, we've already pared our budgets to minimal feasible levels. Many of our core functions are mandated by constitution, statutes and court rules and cannot be legally eliminated. Much of our financial stress is caused by unfunded mandates, which come without funding for such services."

The other is by Debbie Neely pointing out that the Commissioners are being conspicuously silent.

"Not only did the county commissioners count on revenue that had not materialized, they are conspicuously silent when it comes to accepting responsibility."

I agree, in a time when the commissioners should be rolling up their sleeves and tackling the budget problem, they are retracting and not showing strong leadership. Someone was asleep at the switch. What people aren't talking about is that Sandra Romero and her special-interest group called 'Futurewise' have cost the County $1.5M of the approximate $4M shortfall. Are the Commissioners being conspicuously quiet because they don't want to shed a dark shadow on Sandra Romero's current campaign for County Commissioner? Afterall, Cathy Wolfe, and Sandra Romero worked together back in the day.
Download the letters here.