Rep. Kris Lytton Drills County Council for Priorities

Representative Kris Lytton speaks to the County Council today as Pete Rose, Maureen See and Ingrid Gabriel (behind Lytton from left) attend to the meeting.

Kris Lytton, State Representative from the 40^th District, came before the San Juan County Council today and urged them to distill their list of 2012  Legislative Priorities to identify the top one or two items. Lytton will join the rest of the State Legislature on Nov. 29 to address the cuts required by the State to balance the budget.

Lytton was told that the top priorities of San Juan County may be  #2 and #3 on their regional priorities list:

2)  Secure Septic Loan Program Funds regardless of GMA Compliance for Public and Environmental Health and Safety

3)  Secure Equitable and Proportional Operations Funding for Skagit Valley College, Friday Harbor Campus

When Lytton responded that higher education would have to face cuts along with everyone else (“We have gone beyond the low hanging fruit in cuts”), Council Member Patty Miller asked if the legislature could effect policies to waive or extend the requirements of unfunded mandates in state laws. “We have fewer resources and more mandates,” Miller said.

Lytton asked the council to be specific regarding those unfunded mandates.

Miller brought up the requirement that the County must be GMA (Growth Management Act) compliant to qualify for the Septic Loan Program Funds, and for  policy change to waive that requirement. She cited the pressure on the Council to decide whether to opt in to the Voluntary Stewardship Program and  include Agricultural Areas  in the Critical Areas Ordinance update — with no guarantee of funding, by Jan. 22.

Council Member Richard Fralick said, “The Jan 22 deadline comes close to being arbitrary and capricious. Our plates are very full doing updates and other things.” He included public records requests among the unfunded state mandates. He also brought up “the Governor’s proposal to tie prosecuting attorney’s salary in to judges’ salaries.”

County Administrator Pete Rose spoke of the cost in time and effort to comply with public records disclosure, saying, “The governor asked state [county administrators] associations to give input as to what would help, and this county [suggested that] if the complete public records requirement that we have to meet were given to the legislature and courts, then you’d know how time consuming it is.”

Fralick agreed with Rose: “We’re required to provide a level of disclosure that the legislature and courts aren’t.”

Lytton championed transparency. “The State and communities are struggling. It creates tension, but it’s important to maintain solution-oriented discussions.

“It would help to prioritize on the list one or two things you want to focus on and what are the details of that?”

Pratt asked if it was realistic to request capital funds, to which Lytton said, “Nope.”

Miller asked Lytton to surmise which strategy would be most successful:

•           To set priorities with regional significance and collaborate with other counties
  Or
•           To promote San Juan County-only initiatives that no one else will champion

When it was suggested to prioritize the securing of “adequate,  dedicated and sustainable operations and capital funding for Washington State Ferries, Lytton said, “We have made huge headway, operationally and funding the [new] 144 car ferry.

“It will be a huge challenge to secure funding to move forward. We as a state need to establish what are our priorities. The State has to have a balanced budget.”

Lovel Pratt, Council Chair, said “I hope there’s some consideration on the part of the legislature to allow local jurisdictions to find revenue.” She brought up funding support for public schools, which she described as “An integral part of our community and critical to the quality of life here.” Pratt also mentioned development of stormwater regulations for rural areas and a priority action agenda of Puget Sound Partnership, and other priorities that the Council supports but is not taking the lead on.

Lopez/Shaw Council Member Jamie Stephens, said that the Council should confer and “Come up with #1 money  and #1 policy priorities.”

He added that he expects many cuts will come out of health and human services, and said, “The legislature should cut the requirements of the RCWs [state laws] along with the cuts in funding.”

Lytton asked the Council, “Help me with that as you see how that impacts local communities; legislation moves at a snail’s pace at first and then it moves very fast.

“There will be cuts and communities will be impacted and schools, corrections and social services will be cut. That’s the reality of the situation. Our level of expectation is going to have to change for everybody in the state.

(The Council’s 2012 Federal and State Legislative Priorities can be found at   sanjuanco.com/council/resolutions.aspx Scroll down to click on Resolution 48-2011 and find “Exhibit A”)