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Voters will decide on $1.25 billion proposal to improve behavioral health in King County

Voters will decide to support the proposal or not on the April ballot after the King County Council approved the measure.

KING COUNTY, Wash. — The King County Council (KCC) voted to send the Crisis Care Centers Levy to King County Voters for the April ballot on Tuesday. 

The $1.25 billion proposal would be paid out over nine years, between 2024-2032, and funded by a property tax increase of around $10 each month for the average property owner. The KCC voted unanimously (9-0) to approve the levy for a public vote.

The money would help create a network of five crisis care centers, provide funds for the recruitment and retention of community behavioral health workers and increase the number of residential treatment beds.

"This is part of helping people get from crisis, to recovery, to becoming self-sufficient again,” King County Executive Dow Constantine said.

Constantine said the Crisis Care Centers Levy is a solution to problems seen every day in King County. Historically, he said , federal and state funds were allocated for treatment facilities, but that funding has dropped off in recent years.

"The lack of investment shows up in our streets, it shows up in our jails, it shows up in our community. We have to do something about it."

Constantine said it is now up to local leaders to act.  

Whitney Bashaw, who lives and works next door to the now closed El Rey Treatment Facility, said she’s seen first-hand what happens when treatment centers close. The 60-bed residential treatment facility closed in the Fall of 2020.

“When it closed down, we talked to many of them who didn't know what they were going to do, where they were going to go,” Bashaw said. “We have seen them on the streets or heard of them going through really, really hard times.”

Bashaw is glad to see local government working to address the issues she sees every day.

“It’s pretty clear that inequality is a construct of the policies we’ve implemented or failed to implement in the city,” Bashaw said. “I would rather see people housed and taken care of than an empty building rotting and people on the street.”

As of the night of Jan. 30, three council members have responded to KING 5 on how they plan to vote. Girmay Zahilay and Jeanne Kohl-Welles plan to vote yes. Reagan Dunn is still considering it and looking forward to this discussion.

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