Some King County Funds Restored To Help Domestic Violence Victims

Just weeks after King County officials threatened to cut all funding for domestic violence victims from their general budget, the councilmembers now say they will restore some human services funding and make cuts elsewhere. The current cuts now include 28 deputy jobs, 16 prosecutor jobs, and all services for the poor and needy.

This year, King County faced a $60 million deficit and had to make some very tough choices in order to keep the County financially afloat. While one proposal wanted to allocate another $100,000 to domestic violence prevention programs, the council decided in the end to keep their funding at the 2009 level as opposed to the higher 2007 level. 

The funds that will go towards supporting the much-needed domestic violence and sexual assault victims programs were raised by County employees who gave up their cost of living adjustments, or COLAs, for this year. All County employees except for King County Sheriff deputies agreed to give up their COLAs in order to help King County’s financial problems.

The King County councilmembers voted on this budget this week.