Spokane County commissioner candidates David Green, Mary Kuney differ on budget issues

Though both accountants, Spokane County Commissioner candidates Mary Kuney and David Green have very different approaches to the county’s finances and the criminal justice system.

Kuney, a Republican incumbent and former state auditor, was appointed to the seat in 2017 by the governor after her predecessor resigned. She won an election for the seat in 2018, beating Republican Rob Chase.

Green is a tax accountant and Democrat who unsuccessfully ran for Spokane County treasurer in 2018.

Kuney said she audited Spokane’s finances before she was a commissioner and that experience makes her uniquely qualified for the job. Since becoming a commissioner, she’s focused on being responsive to constituents and making departments in the county more efficient, Kuney said.

Green argued the current county commissioners are more focused on business interests instead of the needs of their constituents. He called for the county to look at cuts to everything except essential services such as roads and the criminal justice system.

Meanwhile, both Green and Kuney are concerned about the county’s budget, noting the drop in sales tax revenue during the pandemic.

Here’s a look at how each candidate feels the county should tackle its budget.

Kuney said it will be difficult to predict what county commissioners will need to do to preserve essential services until they know how much revenue the county has lost.

Kuney said there are important decisions county commissioners have not made, including whether they will approve a 1% increase in property taxes and how to handle rising expenses.

“You can be a fiscal conservative, but you still have to be smart and do what you need to do to provide the services that you need to provide,” she said.

She said the county has offered an early retirement package hoping that some of its highest-paid employees will step down, saving the county money on salaries, but it’s too early to know how many county employees have taken advantage of the program. She said the county could choose not to fill some vacancies, which could be another way to cut costs when less tax revenue is coming in.

Green argued commissioners needed to “think outside of the box” to get through the budget crisis, and suggested they could start by reducing the number of people in jail. He said a night in a jail cell costs far more than other alternatives, and the county could save money by rethinking incarceration. He said upfront costs for jail alternatives may be more at first, but will likely cost far less in the long run.

“Now is the time to embrace new concepts.”

He added the county should scale back any programs or services that aren’t a part of its core functions, and focus on preserving funding for criminal justice, roads and the Spokane Regional Health District. Green said he did not yet have specific areas he would cut, but said the current board had spent too many resources on behalf of business and allowing developers to build without proper infrastructure.

“Anything that’s not focused on those core roles is going to have to be on the table,” he said.

Green said commissioners had treated the Health District like a “poor stepchild,” citing their 2017 decision to cut the Health District’s county funding by 17%, or $400,000, and preserve the Sheriff’s Office funding to address a $9.4 million shortfall.

He said if, over the past decade, commissioners adjusted the Health District’s funding for inflation annually and avoided the 2017 cut, the agency would have been much better equipped for the pandemic.

“They’ve cut, cut and cut, just in time for the worst pandemic in 100 years,” he said.

Kuney, appointed in late 2017, said she had only been acting commissioner for a little over a month when made the vote.

She said since then, she has worked to preserve the funding.

But it was difficult to promise the Health District more money because of how tight finances are.

“There’s just not a big pool of money we can take from somewhere else,” she said.

Kuney noted elected officials from other local governments are on the Board of Health that sets policy for the agency, but they are from cities that don’t contribute to the board’s finances.

She said if other officials get to make decisions about the Health District’s future, they should bear financial responsibility.

“They’re sitting at the table and helping drive the direction for the Health District, but again, providing no funding,” she said.

Kuney noted the $8 million had dedicated to the Health District of the $91 million in federal COVID-19 aid the county received, and said she hopes the federal government extends the deadline. She said the county had used COVID-19 aid on other things that helped the community, including schools, food security and personal protective equipment.

Green said commissioners should have used a “people-first” approach to the funds, using them for more rental assistance and food, and looked to aid businesses last. Commissioners, including Al French, have argued the small-business grants would help businesses from closing down permanently, preventing more layoffs.

Green compared the commissioners’ $10 million business and nonprofit grant program, as well as the millions in COVID-19 relief that commissioners granted in business stimulus and tourism marketing, to “trickle-down economics.”

“I prefer to see it more trickle up. If you help people, take care of their basic needs, they can spend their own money once they’ve got food security and housing security,” he said. “Then they can take any extra cash and have it trickle up by spending it at businesses.”

Commissioners did receive a $5.9 million grant for rental assistance, but have not allocated COVID-19 aid for it. They have also used $2.1 million in COVID-19 aid funding for food assistance.

Other issues

If elected, Green said he hoped to discuss climate change, saying there are ways to make county operations more sustainable. That includes looking into collaborating with other governments, reducing fossil fuel use and re-evaluating how the county disposes waste.

“The No. 1 issue for me, short of the huge financial problems, is climate change,” he said.

Kuney said she hopes to focus on constituent issues, noting her role in an incident this spring when a man in Painted Hills was illegally using a helipad. She said she met with neighbors to help come up with a solution to the issues. She said she also wanted to continue to look for ways to make the county more efficient, noting her push over the last two years to move more paperwork and filing online.

IssuesAnswers to the following questions are paraphrased.

Do you support opening county employee union negotiations to the public?

Kuney: Yes, Spokane voters supported doing so by more than a 70% margin.

Green: No, management and union representatives need to be able to speak candidly.

Do you support asking voters for a tax increase to build a bigger jail?

Kuney: Yes. Supports putting a facility on the ballot, but is still waiting for research and community input before making a decision on what the facility should look like.

Green: No, would not support a bigger jail. Would possibly support a ballot measure if a new facility that would not incarcerate more people was needed.

Do you support advocating for moving to Phase 3 of the governor’s re-opening plan, or this fall?

Kuney: Would like to re-open safely, but would like clarity and consistency from the state on re-opening guidelines.

Green: Possibly, will support whatever the health officer recommends.

Should commissioners consider racial equity when making decisions about the criminal justice system?

Kuney: Yes.

Green: Yes.

If people are still in need of support once the county’s COVID-19 aid fund expires at the end of the year, would you support additional assistance for community members using county funds?

Kuney: Yes, but that may depend on the budget.

Green: Yes.