King County Councilmember Pete von Reichbauer was featured as the special guest speaker for the Rotary Club of Auburn’s weekly luncheon. Von Reichbauer spoke about the changing role of King County’s government as it deals with the region’s biggest issues.

“The scope of what the County does has changed dramatically since I was first elected to the King County Council, particularly in the area of criminal justice,” von Reichbauer said.

To illustrate his point on the growth of criminal justice spending, von Reichbauer supplied some budget figures from past decades. In 1991, King County’s general fund budget was $297 million, of which 55 percent was spent on criminal justice. Ten years later, in 2001, 61 percent of the $492 million general fund budget went toward criminal justice. Today, criminal justice spending comprises more than 76 percent of the 2011 general fund budget of $621 million.

The dramatic growth has turned King County’s government into a quasi-law enforcement agency, von Reichbauer said.