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While many of you were picking up turkeys and baking pies for Thanksgiving, late into last Tuesday night our Council was approving the 2018 budget that will provide our\u00a0spending plan for next year. I\u2019m excited for the new year and new initiatives to begin!<\/p>\n
The final unanimous vote was months in the making and the process actually began only days after the supplemental budget was finalized in June.\u00a0 While the process was very long, the final product is good for the County and good for our residents.<\/p>\n
We are making significant investments in key areas such as public safety and behavioral health. In addition, we\u2019ve directed funds to an important compensation study and greater resources for employee training.<\/p>\n
I want to acknowledge the many County employees and elected officials who contributed to getting the budget over the finish line.<\/p>\n
First, every department director and the separately elected officials across the County submitted their 2018 work plans and budget requests to our Finance department.\u00a0 As a follow up, they met with a team from the Executive\u2019s office to discuss their department goals in greater detail.<\/p>\n
And, speaking of the folks on the 7th<\/sup> floor, my thanks to those who spent countless hours in that small, windowless conference room carefully evaluating requests and balancing needs versus limited resources. I\u2019m certainly biased but I am immensely proud of the comprehensive budget we delivered to the Council, and that team\u2019s review and consultation were incredibly important.<\/p>\n Gary Robinson, Jim Dickman and Julie Demuth of the Finance department have earned special praise and appreciation for their stellar work on the budget.\u00a0 I\u2019m happy for them that the nights and weekends are done \u2013 for now.<\/p>\n Lastly, our Councilmembers deserve appreciation for their thoughtful consideration of the budget we submitted. While we didn\u2019t agree on every element, they heard our perspective and priorities with care and respect.<\/p>\n I can\u2019t begin to tally the number of hours that collectively went into proposing, preparing and passing the 2018 budget.\u00a0 A low estimate would be in the hundreds of hours.\u00a0 That\u2019s hundreds of hours that could be spent on acting on the budget \u2013 working on priority projects, meeting with partners across the county and refining processes that save time and money for our residents.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why I believe we should consider the possibility of shifting to a biennial (every other year) budget.\u00a0 We would save a tremendous amount of time and still have the opportunity to make adjustments or needed additions during the annual supplemental budget process.\u00a0 Making this kind of change has a number of implications that must be carefully considered but after participating in this year\u2019s budget process, I\u2019m a strong advocate for evaluating it.<\/p>\n The state of Washington and many municipalities already operate in this manner and I think it\u2019s a budget process well worth considering.<\/p>\n What do you think?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bruce<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While many of you were picking up turkeys and baking pies for Thanksgiving, late into last Tuesday night our Council was approving the 2018 budget that will provide our\u00a0spending plan for next year. I\u2019m excited for the new year and new initiatives to begin! The final unanimous vote was months in the making and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":880,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38509],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Bruce\"](\"https:\/\/blog.piercecountywa.gov\/executive\/files\/2017\/01\/Bruce-blue-signature.png\")
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