By Pat Jenkins The Dispatch Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy wants the county to hire more people to help deal with mental health issues and prisoners. In her proposed budget for county government for 2015, McCarthy proposes adding four positions to assist people with mental illness and chemical dependency problems. The proposed budget that she submitted last week to the County Council would also curb overtime in the county jail by adding positions for correctional officers. In addition, McCarthy said her budget requests include investments in key business sectors to support job growth. "Our local economy is growing, and the county government's overall fiscal condition is sound, balanced and sustainable," McCarthy told the council Sept. 23 in her annual budget address. "Pierce County is in great shape, thanks to the hard work by our employees to keep finding new ways to improve our efficiency and effectiveness." Under her plan, spending for basic government services would increase by 2.9 percent to $281.4 million, buoyed by increases in sales tax revenues and higher property values. Total spending GÇô including money earmarked for roads and stormwater and sewer systems GÇô would drop 5.8 percent to $928 million. The council is scheduled to vote Nov. 17 on a final budget. Highlights from the spending plan proposed by McCarthy include: " Four new positions GÇô spread among District Court, Juvenile Court and the Department of Community Connections GÇô to help mentally ill and drug-addicted people navigate legal systems that McCarthy said are overburdened and ill-equipped to help them. " Additional funding for the Pierce County Veterans Bureau to provide vouchers to indigent veterans for basic services, such as housing and food. " No growth in the overall number of government jobs, and no general tax increases. " Additional support for job-growth in the aerospace and agriculture sectors, which McCarthy said are poised for growth. The jail is the county's biggest fiscal challenge, according to McCarthy. She supports the recommendations from an independent performance audit to add eight corrections officers to help reduce the use of overtime for current officers to adequately staff the jail. But she said adding workers "is not enough" to solve the problem. "The audit recommends management and policy changes. These are not easy changes. But we will resolve these issues by working together to cut costs and restore the jail's status as a regional facility serving the whole community," she said. Some cities and towns have stopped sending prisoners to the county facility because there are less expensive jails available from other jurisdictions.
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