Ryan Mello’s first 100 days as Pierce County Executive defined by tackling budget crises

Even though Ryan Mello is close to wrapping up his first 100 days as Pierce County Executive, his goals for the county haven’t budged: Making Pierce County more eco-friendly, boosting Pierce Transit, and embracing housing growth.

“(We’re) building communities that are safe, welcoming, and connected,” Mello said on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “And our early priorities really are about building affordable housing, tackling this homelessness crisis, and making sure that everyone has a great job that they can raise a family on.”

Pierce County’s budget crisis

Last month, to combat a $30 million structural budget deficit, Pierce County announced it generated $17 million in affordable housing investments from its Maureen Howard Affordable Housing Sales Tax.

“We only have two ways to raise revenue for core essential services in Pierce County, that is the property tax and sales tax,” Mello said. “So, without its growth, to be able to keep up with the cost of doing business, the cost of labor and supplies, we are going to have to lay folks off and in the not too distant future, and that’s not what I’m hearing our constituents want.”

Mello told “The Gee and Ursula Show” that Pierce County’s 1% property tax does not keep up with inflation.

Federal cuts looming for Pierce County

“With every city and county here struggling with budgets, how will the federal cuts impact Pierce County?” KIRO Newsradio fill-in host Mike Lewis asked.

“That’s another major concern of ours. Historically, we’ve received close to $200 million in federal investment over our two-year budget period,” Mello said. “This really creates uncertainty for us, because our federal investments are put to work throughout Pierce County, put to work in the form of health care for seniors and people with disabilities, put to work in the form of public safety, to pay for prosecutors and other public safety services, and also for us to really invest in safe and efficient transportation systems and affordable housing.”

Listen to the full conversation here:

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.