I made a mistake in the story that appeared in today's News Tribune, in both the print and on-line editions.

There will be a meeting of community leaders this Friday at 4 p.m. in the International House at Pierce College in Lakewood, but it won't be with the consultants who are studying which parts of Washington's prison system should be shut down.

That will come later.

The governor's budget office was surprised to see my story, especially since I said the community would be meeting with them and the consultants (and neither had been notified.)

So, this first meeting is more of a "come together" meet for the locals.

But that next meeting will have to come in a hurry. The deadline for the draft recommendation from the consultants is only 5 weeks away, Oct. 1.

Among general government workers in Washington, Joe Dear ranked second with a salary of $223,110. Dear was executive director of the state Investment Board until his departure in March.

And you'll understand why he left when you see the salary he got from CalPERS, the California state pension fund. His base salary jumped to $475,000 a year, but there were provisions in Dear's contract with California that could boost his total annual pay to about $800,000.

Even at that, he still makes less than a decent college football coach. Go figure.

Speaking of which, here is thecontract for UW football coach Steve Sarkisian. His base salary is only $300,000 so he didn't make the Top 10 anywhere. But as you can see, his total compensation is about $1.25 million or so. And it grows in future years.

TOP 10 SALARIES IN HIGHER EDUCATION
1. Elson Floyd, president, Washington State University: $625,000.
2. Mark Emmert, president, University of Washington: $620,004.
3. Johnese M. Spisso, vice president, University of Washington: $$515,196.
4. Bill Doba, former WSU head football coach: $494,960.
5. Don Miller, non-tenured UW professor: $466,548
6. Lorenzo Romar, UW basketball coach: $412,020.
7. Phyllis Wise, UW Provost: $409,896.
8. Nick Vedder, non-tenured UW professor: $375,000.
9. Bruce Ferguson, UW assistant vice president-provost: $373,632
10. Ruth Mahan, UW director: $370,272.

Here is a link to my earlier post, with all kinds of other stuff about state salaries.

TOP 10 SALARIES IN GENERAL GOVERNMENT
1. Gary Bruebaker, chief investment officer, Investment Board: $300,132.
2. Joe Dear, executive director, Investment Board: $223,110.
3. Steven Draper, William Kennett, Philip Paroian, Thomas Ruggels, all senior investment officers, Investment Board: $220,764.
4. Diana Will, senior investment officer, Investment Board: $194,244.
5. Asha Singh, superintendent, Department of Social and Health Services: $182,784.
6. Theresa Whitmarsh, senior investment officer, Investment Board: $181,056.
7. G.S. Hammond, clinical program administrator, Department of Corrections: $174,780.
8. Matt Smith, State Actuary: $173,856.
9. Kamaljit Floura, medical assistant superintendent, Social and Health Services: $173,280.
10. Gary Franklin, medical director, Department of Labor and Industries: $172,764.

Look it up. Technically, it's Elson Floyd, president of Washington State University. But I don't have much confidence in the figures that the state is putting out because I can't tell how much the salary numbers have been "massaged."

Floyd's annual pay was $725,000 a year ago, but he gave back $100,000, so now it's $625,000. (On the other hand, he had gotten a $125,000 pay raise in August 2008, so he gave back most, but not all, of it.)

Floyd's "base pay" is $625,000, but for total compensation, University of Washington president Mark Emmert tops $900,000 and UW football coach Steve Sarkisian gets more than $1 million, altogether.

The report is supposed to be the "base salary" for state workers as of January of this year. So a lot of the "other compensation" has been omitted. Here's a link to Frequently Asked Questions about the salary stuff.

UW Husky coach Steve Sarkisian is on the College List at No. 37 with a $300,000 salary. But that doesn't count all the TV and radio shows and his living quarters, etc.

Wazzu is paying 2 football coaches this year. Bill Doba gets $494,960 because he still has a year left on his contract, said OFM spokesman Glenn Kuper. Paul Wulff, the new coach, appears to be making $287,496 a year, if you add both elements of his salary in the database. He wasn't even listed in the Top 100. But he undoubtedly would be if all of his compensation were included.

Here are the Top 100 for higher education workers and for everybody else in state government.

Below is a story written by The Associated Press back in November 2008, when Floyd and UW president Mark Emmert turned down pay raises for 2009. You'll notice that Emmert's pay was about $905,000 then, yet he's on the books in January 2009 at only $620,004. That figure doesn't include his car allowance for the year or his $250,000 a year in deferred compensation.

Here is a link to the Office of Financial Management site and its very, very tardy report on state worker salaries. (The report usually comes out Jan. 31 in odd-numbered years. But this year, the governor's budget office spent no less than SEVEN months verifying all the salary information because they didn't want to embarrass any state worker by overstating his or her salary.)

University presidents take less pay
Washington State University's president takes a $100,000 salary cut and University of Washington's president forgoes a raise.

By Donna Gordon Blankinship; The Associated Press

Saturday,November 22, 2008
Edition: SOUTH SOUND, Section: Front Page, Page A01
A few days after a national report on the salaries of college presidents showed the leaders of the University of Washington and Washington State University are among the best paid in the nation, both men announced they would be taking voluntary pay cuts.

=> Read more!

Kopachuck state park had been one of those slated for closure, and it's not out of the woods yet.

Subject: Kopachuck Park Celebration – September 13, 2009

Earlier this year the citizens of the State of Washington met the challenge of the announcement to close Kopachuck and Joemma State Parks with a remarkable grass roots effort. The result is that Kopachuck and Joemma State Parks were taken off the closure list for this budget session.

To celebrate the efforts of the citizens in the saving of Kopachuck and Joemma, POP (Preserve our Park) is sponsoring a Family Day at Kopachuck State Park on September 13, 2009 between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Families will enjoy the live folk music of Flannel Asparagus, participate in guided trail hikes, face painting for the kids, and food concessions which will support POP. POP is also sponsoring a huge, hand crafted Thank You Tree which everyone will be invited to participate in and to sign their thanks to the Governor and Legislature.

=> Read more!

Their numbers in the Legislature are so small that any announcement from House Republicans is like whistling in the wind (can anyone hear them?), but that's not stopping GOP budget leader Rep. Gary Alexander, R-Olympia, from coming out with his Top Ten budget ideas.

Writing the news release at least kept Brendon Wold busy for part of the summer.

Here's an interesting one, only because you don't often see Republicans talk about increasing spending much. Of course, if the state were to spend more on K-12, it would have to make corresponding cuts in other programs to keep GOPers happy.

3. K-12 Education: Do not defer the beginning funding of HB 2261 to the 2013-15 Biennium. If this is the panacea for our new definition of basic education, then there is an obligation to prepare and implement a funding plan beginning much sooner. That plan should replace the Student Achievement Fund and the Education Legacy Trust Account, not augment them.

Here's the rest:

House Republican budget leader releases 'top ten' budget ideas for improving state's budget outlook

'We can either change the way government delivers services, or we can continue with broken promises, drastic cuts, and rollercoaster spending,' says Alexander

Rep. Gary Alexander, R-Olympia, released today his top ten ideas for improving Washington state's budget outlook over the next biennium and into the next decade.

"We have to look at doing some things differently," said Alexander. "We're still stuck using the same failed policies that led to a $9 billion budget shortfall last session and which will lead to another $9 billion – or more – shortfall in 2011. We can either change the way government delivers services, or we can continue with broken promises, drastic cuts, and rollercoaster spending.

=> Read more!

This is the lawsuit in which a bunch of school districts are claiming that the state is not performing its "paramount duty" to fully fund basic education. It's what one staffer called "the really big, giant lawsuit."

It is the 3rd round in a series of similar lawsuits. So far, the Legislature seems to have won the opening rounds. Well, sorta. The Supremes have said the Legislature gets to define exactly what "basic" education is, but once it has that definition, it must fully fund it.

It's a lot easier to follow the rules if you get to set the rules, too.

Aug. 31 is the start date for this round of court action. Trial is expected to last 3 weeks.

Got this news release today from Network for Excellence in Washington Schools:

The public school finance lawsuit brought against the state by a coalition of school districts, statewide and local civic organizations, and education associations goes to trial on Aug. 31 in King County Superior Court. We are lining up advance one-on-one interviews/briefings for political and/or education reporters with Mike Blair, president of the Network for Excellence in Washington Schools (NEWS), either by telephone the week of August 10 or in person between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 6, at the offices of Foster Pepper law firm at 1111 3rd Ave., Suite 3400, in downtown Seattle. Let me know if you’d like to arrange an interview.

Here is a link to the plaintiff's friends' page (NEWS).

Needless to say, whatever happens at the Superior Court level is bound to be appealed by the losing side all the way to the state Supreme Court. So, we're nowhere near a final resolution. Not sure there is a final resolution here.

It will be a three-week trial.

Austin Jenkins of Northwest Public Radio put in a request for public records on travel to see how the "ban" was working.

The Guv's original ban expired, then the Legislature imposed its own travel ban for a while, but that one expired June 30. Exceptions were allowed for critical stuff.

Now, state agency travel is limited by their lower budgets: If they think they can afford it, they do.)

Here is Austin's piece.

A sampling of the signatures that Tim Eyman turned in on Initiative 1033 petitions shows the measure has more than enough valid signatures and will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot.

Secretary of State Sam Reed's office issued a news release to that effect a few minutes ago.

Eyman claims it sets a record for its relative low level of invalid signatures. It might be a record for Eyman's many ballot measure petitions, but state election officials can't confirm it's a record for all initiatives.

Scroll down below the "More" to read Eyman's take on things, which includes useful explanation of some parts of his ballot measure.

Election ’09: Eyman’s Initiative 1033 cleared for November ballot

OLYMPIA…Secretary of State Sam Reed announced Wednesday that Initiative 1033, Tim Eyman’s measure dealing with revenue limits and property tax relief, has enough valid signatures to qualify for a spot on the statewide ballot in November.

=> Read more!

Okay, so the lack of bad news now qualifies as good news. But we take what we can get.

During an informal briefing with capital reporters Monday, Gov. Chris Gregoire said state tax collections for June were right on forecast. Yes, they were abysmal – much lower than past years. But they were what state economists expected them to be.

How is that good news? Because as the recession has advanced, those collection reports have been well below what budget managers expected. And if you get enough of those in a row and you have budget problems.

And it just might mean that the recession has bottomed out in Washington state, or at least that the official forecast as presented by state economist Arun Raha has finally gotten pessimistic enough

Gregoire's budget chief Victor Moore said it is the first time in over a year that a monthly tax collections report was on target.

Moore said that Raha expressed "some joy in seeing lines going sideways," as opposed to downward, quickly.

Gregoire said there are still worries, namely that commercial real estate defaults may be increasing and exposing smaller state banks to problems they avoided in the housing crash.

"We are by no means out of the woods," Gregoire said. "September will be a very telling forecast."

When I say "down," I mean they were only $2 million lower than the projections. And that's a huge improvement over the past few months, when tax collections were $50-$100 million less than the forecast.

This is for the tax collection period from June 11 to July 10. The report from the Office of Economic and Revenue Forecast just came out today.

Considering that the Washington Department of Revenue collects between $1 billion (with a "b") and $1.5 billion every month, $2 million (with an "m") is chump change.

And apparently there was up uptick in the real estate market.

OK. Actually, it will be a "Thanks for Working for Nothin' BBQ," a way for Gov. Chris Gregoire to show her appreciation for the work done by her own Economic Stimulus Czar, Dick Thompson, whose six-figure salary ($000,000) really didn't show the proper degree of thanks for his volunteerism.

(Dick told me today he has retired once again -- this time from volunteerism -- and has turned over his duties to someone in the Guv's budget office.)

Washington state got about $6-$10 billion out of the $787 billion federal economic stimulus package -- that is, if you count all the money for the Bonneville Power Administration and Hanford. (State government will get about $4 billion in K-12, Medicaid and transpo funding over the next two years.)

Anyway, Thompson, former Seattle deputy-mayor-chamber-president-Boeing-guy Bob Watt and Craig Cole will be feted by the Guv on July 28. (Craig Cole is a UW Regent and Bellingham businessman.)

All three of them helped out the Guv in some manner. Watt helped the governor find and screen some agency (cabinet) directors. And Cole worked on some economic roundtables.

Anyway, we're now in the second round of scrambling for federal stimulus funds, the round in which we must compete with other states and actually apply for grants, etc.

One of the many things I missed while on vacation last week was Fuse Washington's announcement of its "Sizzle-Fizzle Awards 2009."

I give them high marks for cleverness and higher marks for paying attention to during the 105-day legislative session that ended in late April, albeit through their Seattle-centric lens.

Agree or disagree with Fuse, the organization's values most certainly show through their choices for praise and condemnation. If Fuse were a person, s/he would be a tree-hugging Leninist who rides a bus, even though s/he can afford a hybrid (and may have one parked between the Lexus and VW bug in a three-car garage.)

Here's a link to the full list of "Sizzle and Fizzle" awards.