Reform implication · 5 cases
Honest cost math, every time
Agencies routinely switch between ballot dollars, current dollars, year-of-expenditure dollars, and various baselines when reporting program cost growth. The Sound Transit and IT-modernization cases illustrate the pattern. Reform requires a single transparent reconciliation methodology with each cost update.
- The City of Seattle and King County jointly commissioned an outside forensic review of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) in August 2025. The accounting firm Clark Nuber P.S. conducted the review, which was released…Structural failureMisuse of public resources
- In August 2025, Sound Transit released new "bottom-up" cost estimates for the major construction projects in Sound Transit's third mass-transit package (ST3), the regional transit expansion voters approved in 2016. The revised numbers…Structural failureMisuse of public resources
- This is not a completed audit. It's a pre-audit advisory letter that conforms to similar professional standards but is not an audit under Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards. The full audit is in the 2025 work program. Treat…Structural failureStatutory noncompliance
- When voters approved Sound Transit's third mass-transit package (ST3) in 2016, the West Seattle Link Extension was projected to cost approximately $2.7 billion. The estimate grew steadily through 2024 and 2025.Structural failure
- King County launched the Health Through Housing program in 2021, funded by a 0.1% county sales tax and a $400 million bonding package. The 2021 Implementation Plan budgeted $297.8 million in capital spending through 2028. The county…Structural failure