Council adopts schedule for transition to biennial budgeting

February 28, 2011

Summary

Two agencies begin shift with full implementation Countywide by 2015

Story

The Metropolitan King County Council today unanimously adopted legislation identifying the schedule of when County agencies will transition to a biennial budgeting process. The Department of Development and Environmental Services (DDES) will be joined by the Department of Transportation in delivering a biennial budget for the 2012-2013 biennium.

“As Budget Chair last year, during a time when the Council had to make unprecedented cuts to our general fund, we were able to concentrate on improving the operations of DOT rather than muddling through and adopting a one-year budget,” said Councilmember Julia Patterson, chair of the Council’s Budget and Fiscal Management Committee. “This is evidenced by the great work that was accomplished by the Regional Transit Taskforce, which could not have been done if we didn’t have the time and resources to do the work.”

“Moving to biennial budgeting will provide King County with more time to dig deeper into department budgets to identify opportunities for savings, efficiencies, and restructuring,” said Councilmember Larry Phillips, co-sponsor of the charter amendment that provided for biennial budgeting. “Biennial budgeting paid dividends for Metro Transit, as we were able to use the off year of the biennial budget cycle to conduct an in-depth performance audit which is yielding big savings that we are using to preserve transit service.”

In 2003, King County voters approved an amendment to the County Charter allowing the County to transition all County departments to biennial budgeting. Today’s motion adopts the timeline in which departments will begin working under biennial budgets.

Moving to a biennial budget extends the planning period and is a useful way for County departments to further examine and define their budgets. It also allows the Executive and Council to improve program evaluation, enhance performance management and encapsulate cost-savings during the budget process.

The benefits of moving to a biennial budget have already been realized through a pilot program done by the County’s Transit Division in 2006, which was eventually expanded to the entire Department of Transportation for the 2010-2011 biennium.

DDES is the King County agency that issues building and land use permits for properties located in unincorporated King County, enforces land use and building codes and issues business licenses.

The County’s transition to biennial budgeting has been impacted by an out-of-date financial system used to monitor and track expenses. The activation of a new countywide budget management system in time for the preparation of the County’s 2013 budget has allowed the Council to set the schedule for departments to convert to biennial budgets.

All non general fund budgets are expected to transition to biennial budgeting for 2013. All county agencies are scheduled to deliver biennial budgets beginning with the 2015 King County Budget, which will be adopted in the fall of 2014.