Pierce County Council Announces Budget Cuts

As we all know the economy is struggling and that means many levels of government are struggling. The Pierce County Council has been working hard on a budget and this morning it was presented at the Committee of the Whole. Total cuts equal $8 million. We got a chance to take a look at it, and while this list is no where near comprehensive, here are a few things that caught our eye.

• Human Resources took the largest percentage hit with a 9.24% decrease on a $4+ million budget.
• Planning and Land Services (PALS) lost $500k or 2.87%
• Total departmental cuts came to $4.393 million. This is $633k deeper than the Exec’s original budget proposal.
• The WSU extension will lose $290,000 or 30.35%.
• Broadway Center funding will be cut from $24,510 to $15,931
• Centro Latino funding will be cut from $29,630 to $19,259
• The Humane Society Extra Bed Days program funding was cut from $12,500 to $0
• The Daffodil Festival’s funding was cut from $11,850 to $0
• The Pierce County Aids Foundation funding was cut from $13,040 to $8,476
• Previous allocation to the Downtown Merchant Group will be cut from $10,000 to $1,000

And because we know there are a number of historic preservationists reading:

• While the numbers are cut, money is still allocated to historic preservation; the Historical Property Survey will get $180,000, County-wide Historical Document Survey $60,000, and the Grant Program (Carry Forward from 2008) $194,200.
• Up to $30,000 of an appropriation is designated to be used to study the preservation or adaptive reuse of materials at the Berg Scaffolding Building on the Thea Foss Waterway
• Finally, it has been proposed that historic preservation be moved from PALS to Economic Development. More on that next week.

There’s a lot more to it. This is just our first look at the changes. We really hope the cuts don’t have to go any deeper …

UPDATE

Here is the revised budget amendment (Word Doc)