OLYMPIA — Hundreds of special districts in Washington, including several in Snohomish County, failed to make financial reports available for review by the state auditor last year.
There’s not much the agency can do about it, either.
Thirty-one in the county and 580 others throughout Washington violated state law by not filing annual reports covering the 2013 fiscal year, or what they did turn in was late or incomplete.
And for five special purpose districts in the county, and 295 statewide, it was the third straight year they had failed to file anything, according to a report released this week by State Auditor Troy Kelley.
“This lack of transparency makes it difficult, if not impossible for taxpayers to hold local governments accountable,” the report concludes.
In Snohomish County, those that did not file reports for 2011, 2012 and 2013 are Snohomish County Fire Protection District 19, Snohomish County Diking Districts 2 and 4, Lake Ketchum Maintenance and Robe Valley Flood Control District.
“I know it’s required but I think it’s an undue burden on a small district like ours,” said Ruth Brandal of Everett, a commissioner for Diking District 2.
The tiny district has roughly a dozen property owners and encompasses 500 acres of farmland on the east side of Ebey Slough between the Everett trestle and Silver Hill, she said. She and two other property owners serve as commissioners.
“We’re here to just maintain dikes. We’re accountable to each other,” she said. “That to me is much more important than turning in records to the auditor.”
She said not much money is involved — an estimated $20,000 in collections in 2013 — and no cash goes through the hands of commissioners. The county collects the taxes and disburses the money upon the written request of the board, ensuring every transaction is recorded, she said.
Marie Tharp, secretary for the all-volunteer Fire Protection District 23, said she’s filed the required reports in writing in past years but the state is pushing for them to be done in a different format online. To comply, she installed new software and hopes to be current by the end of January.
Like Brandal, she said it’s a time-consuming task for a district with no paid staff and a budget of roughly $38,000 in 2013. The district covers an area around Mountain Loop Highway and Robe Hill.
“We don’t handle cash,” she said. “We submit vouchers to the county and they mail us warrants to mail to vendors.”
A 1909 state law requires every local government to file a financial report with the State Auditor’s Office within 150 days of the end of the particular district’s fiscal year.
About one-third of the state’s 1,956 fire, sewer, diking, drainage, cemetery and other special purpose districts struggle every year to fully comply. More than 700 failed to do so in 2011 and 2012, dropping to 611 in 2013 following an extensive outreach effort by Kelley’s office. This included conducting training around the state for district commissioners and staff.
Brandal attended one of the classes. She said computers were not set up so they could practice and when she got home she found it wasn’t as easy as state workers made it sound.
And the volume of material demanded “is kind of ridiculous,” she said. It’s not just financial reports but copies of all the minutes of all the meetings for the past year.
The tale is similar in many other districts. The report found commissioners and staff said they typically lack money to buy needed software, hire professionals to do the work or train volunteer staff to compile the data.
Compounding the problem is that the high turnover of personnel and board members often leaves people in charge who are unaware of the legal requirements for filing, the report found.
Violators aren’t subject to fines or other punishment, as the existing law only empowers the State Auditor’s Office to collect, review and make publicly available whatever it receives.
“We are a reporting agency, not an enforcement agency, and the ultimate power lies with the constituents of local government,” said Thomas Shapley, Kelley’s spokesman.
“They either directly elect those who govern the entity or they directly elect those who appoint those who govern the entity. Thus they have the power of the ballot to hold responsible those who govern the entity,” he said.
The report cited several potential consequences of noncompliance, such as districts losing out on state and federal grants, a downgrading of their bond rating, difficulty in securing loans and public criticism from taxpayers.
The full report can be found online at www.sao.wa.gov.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dospueblos.
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