Crunch time came to the King County Council and Executive branches Monday as the council cut positions in its own staff and those in Executive-branch agencies, and froze hiring for non-essential county services. The cuts enables the county to fund $1.5 million in lifeboat programs without spending any of the reserves set aside to help close the anticipated shortfall in the 2010 budget.

In the 2009 budget, many health and human services programs were placed in a six-month “lifeboat” that – without new revenue sources – was set to be eliminated on June 30.

Earlier this summer, the Executive proposed using more than $2 million in out-year reserves, set aside to help close the 2010 budget shortfall, to fund many of these lifeboat programs. However, with no identified future funding source for these programs and a projected $50 million general fund budget shortfall for 2010, many councilmembers expressed concern about the Executive’s proposal.

As part of the plan, the County Council will cut $875,000 from its 2009 budget allocation by not filling vacant positions and transferring unspent funds reserved for two council-initiated programs. Also filling the gap will be $110,000 in unspent funds from the Elections Office and Department of Assessments, and $900,000 in cuts to Executive branch agencies. The council also prioritized funding for those lifeboat programs that provide direct services to vulnerable populations and reduced the lifeboat funding amount for all programs by approximately one-third.

The council also approved a hiring freeze as an emergency measure. Savings from the hiring freeze through the end of 2009 help fund the remaining costs associated with the “lifeboat” so that no reserves earmarked to deal with next year’s budget gap will have to be spent.

The hiring freeze will not affect county employees whose jobs directly impact public health and safety, including Sheriff’s deputies, corrections officers, health care providers, and employees of the courts and prosecutor’s office. It also allows the County Executive to approve new hires in specific cases where a department can show that keeping a position vacant would actually increase costs to the county.