Two Aircraft May Fall Victim To $50 Million Budget Deficit

King County, WA is facing a $50 million budget deficit, and many departments are being asked to cut their budgets in order to bring it into balance.

County Sheriff John Urquhart has been directed to chop $3.8 million from from his next budget, and he says that could spell the end to two helicopters that provide emergency services to the county, according to television station KOMO.

Urquhart told the station that everything else has been cut to the bone during the lingering economic downturn, and the state has not given the county to authorize its property taxes. So no, Urquhart said, he's looking at the air support unit as well as his marine unit.

If that happens, Sergeant Jason Houck of the Air Support Unit says "people will lose their lives."

One of the department's two helicopters is a surplus Huey UH-1, which is reportedly one of only a few in the state equipped with search and rescue equipment. It is dispatched to areas outside of King County when needed, according to the report.

The Huey conducted 25 rescues in 2015. Houck said that it is not possible to determine if the aircraft actually saved the lives of those it rescued, but pointed out that it only takes a few minutes to get an injured person or heart attack victim off a mountain with the helo, while to carry them out could take a day or more.

Currently, the two aircraft are slated to be grounded as of January 1, 2017, but they could be saved during budget negotiations this fall.

FMI: www.kingcounty.gov