King County Deputy Executive Fred Jarrett was the keynote speaker at the Federal Way Chamber of Commerce membership luncheon May 5. He filled in for King County Executive Dow Constantine, who was on a plane to the other Washington in search of money to fix the Howard Hanson Dam.

Jarrett’s message centered on the demand for county services vs. the supply of money available to provide them. He also discussed the difficulties of doing business in King County. King County is a $5 billion agency with about $650 million to work with, Jarrett said. One of the county’s goals is to increase productivity of services by 3 to 5 percent.

“We need to be far more conservative in our budgets and the way we finance them,” he said. “The biggest resource for King County is between an employee’s two ears.”

To learn more, send questions to Jarrett at fred.jarrett@kingcounty.gov.

To learn more about the Federal Way Chamber, click here or call (253) 838-2605 ext. 120 or e-mail federalway@federalwaychamber.com