King County Executive Dow Constatine sat down with Burien Lawmakers today to discuss local issues.

Constantine has been meeting with the leaders of every city in King County. Burien was number 34 on the list, out of 39 cities in King County.

With the creation of their own animal control service and beginning to take road maintenance in house Burien has been slowly backing away from contracting with the County for Services. Next in line to be brought in house will be police officers, in the next couple of years, Burien City Manager Mike Martin informed Constantine.

Currently Burien contracts with King County for police services. Martin said he felt the City could save a good amount of money by bringing the services in house. He said the City was going to be unable to keep up with the Sheriff’s yearly five percent cost of living increase.

Constantine said he had talked with the King County Sheriff’s Guild about negotiating their contracts and the Guild was uninterested.

The County is facing the possibility of a $60 million deficit. Constantine said if the sales tax increase of $.2 does not pass this November there would be several dozen layoffs in the Sheriff’s Department.¬¬¬

If passed the sales tax increase would raise the County $40 million. Reducing the County’s deficit to $20 million.

40 percent of the sales tax revenue would go to King County cities, Constantine said. He said Burien would receive a projected $400,000 in 2011 and $950,000 in 2012.

Martin said he wanted to create a Public Safety District for Burien Police, similar to the fire districts in other cities. He said he has seen success with the fire districts. People approving bonds and levies for the fire districts that he said never would have passed if they had been put forth by the City.

Under the plan Martin said he would put off of the City’s property tax each year, plus the to the district. Right now the contract with the County costs more than the City brings each year in property tax. The City spends $9 million a year on police and brings in approximately $7 million in property tax.

While the district will likely cost less than $9 million a year, it is expected to still cost more than $7 million. The difference would be made up from savings in the City’s general fund.

Also discussed were Burien’s early plans to add an interchange to Highway 518 where the Lora Lake Apartments used to be. Martin said the entire diamond interchange they have envisioned is too expensive to move forward with at the moment.

The entire diamond interchange would cost $75 million to build. However adding a single interchange would cost only $15 million. Martin said he is looking at Federal grants to pay for the project.

He said he hopes to begin working on the interchange in two to three years, and be completed a couple of years after that.

An “auto row” would be constructed near the interchange along the highway. Martin said he has talked to car dealers along 1 ave. about moving their businesses. He said the main thing keeping that from happening has been the interchange.