EVERETT – Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon has vetoed legislation he argues would keep his office out of the loop in overseeing part of the county budget.
The County Council is likely to override the veto on Monday. It was Reardon’s second veto since taking office eight months ago.
Council Chairman John Koster dismissed Reardon’s veto, which occurred late Thursday afternoon, as “much to do about nothing.”
Reardon said legislation passed by the council Aug. 4 would eliminate long-standing checks and balances on government spending by removing his office from overseeing transfers from a reserve account.
“I am concerned that this ordinance will result in increased spending without the review and consent of the executive branch of government, and will disrupt normal administrative practices and services,” Reardon wrote in a letter to Koster.
At a time the county faces a projected $13 million deficit in its 2005 budget, the law “sends the wrong message to our citizens” and would allow “backdoor raids on the county treasury,” Reardon said.
Koster said Reardon misinterpreted the legislation, which the council passed on a bipartisan 5-0 vote after committee meetings and a public hearing.
“I guess either the executive didn’t read the ordinance or doesn’t understand the intent,” Koster said. “He believes the ordinance removes his role from authorizing the expenditures from reserve accounts. It does no such thing.”
Koster said the legislation would merely let the county to have more than one reserve account. It now has three, he said. “The ordinance is just authorizing our current practices up here,” he said.
Reardon could not be reached late Friday afternoon.
Paul Roberts, a senior policy analyst in the county executive’s office, said Reardon’s letter explaining his veto “speaks for itself” and the spending law was passed without conversations between the council and executive’s office.
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