homelessness, King County

County Council Launches Action to Address Homelessness Authority’s Financial Issues

By Erica C. Barnett

The King County will take up legislation from Councilmember Jorge Barón this afternoon that directs the King County Executive’s office to take two concrete steps toward addressing the King County Regional Homelessness Authority’s financial issues, which have led local elected officials to start discussing a plan for “winding down” the agency. Shutting the KCRHA down would require either the Seattle City Council or the King County Council to adopt a motion to terminate an interlocal agreement between the city and county, triggering a dissolution process that must last at least one year.

Barón’s motion, co-sponsored by Rod Dembowski and Steffanie Fain, asks King County Executive Girmay Zahilay to conduct an assessment of the KCRHA’s forthcoming “corrective action” plan responding the issues identified in a recent forensic audit, and produce a report on “whether the county should continue, amend, or terminate its participation” in the interlocal agreement that created KCRHA.

The legislation sets a June 15 deadline for the briefing, which will cover the corrective plan (due May 23) and options for covering the KCRHA’s shortfall. The longer report, which the legislation says should include an outline for how to “transition contracts and activities currently managed or carried out by the authority,” is due August 1, a few weeks before the council is set to take up a separate proposal, sponsored by Dembowski and Reagan Dunn, to start the process of dissolving the homelessness agency.

“We need to be very thoughtful about this,” Barón said. “We don’t want to make the situation worse by trying to do something quickly and without a lot of thought for the people on the street and those who are getting services right now.”

Talking to PubliCola last week, Dembowski said he considers the KCRHA “a failed agency, by design and also in its implementation. … I don’t see the necessity or value of having the KCRHA continue.” But, Dembowski added, he wants to dismantle the agency “in an orderly way.”

Barón’s proposal comes in response to a forensic financial review that found the KCRHA had a growing negative balance, could not account for at least $8 million of its budget, and has few internal controls over its own budget and finances. A little over a week ago, the KCRHA’s governing board (on which Barón sits) learned from the auditors that just getting KCRHA’s finances to a baseline standard could cost millions of dollars and take years.

PubliCola is supported entirely by readers like you.
CLICK BELOW to become a one-time or monthly contributor.

Support PubliCola

There appears to be little enthusiasm for that option. While Dembowski (along with Seattle City Councilmember Maritza Rivera) has been the most vocal proponent for shutting down KCRHA as quickly as possible, his isn’t the only voice of resignation. County Councilmember Claudia Balducci, a former member of the KCRHA’s governing board, told PubliCola last week, “I think it’s really time to figure out a different path forward. It’s time to admit this isn’t working.”

But Barón told PubliCola the process can’t move forward until after the county know exactly what’s involved in fixing the agency’s financial issues, determine how much it will cost the city and county to pay down the agency’s overspending and debt, and he figure out how to handle the $200 million or so in homeless service contracts the KCRHA administers, most of them funded by the city and county.

If the KCRHA loses its authority to administer contracts, some have suggested that it could serve as a regional body that brings Seattle, King County, and suburban cities together to coordinate regional homelessness policy, while Seattle and King County resume control of homelessness contracts (something Seattle has already started doing with Mayor Katie Wilson’s shelter push).

Barón was cautious when asked what the future of the KCRHA might look like. I don’t want to say this is the end or that it definitely is headed in that direction, because KCRHA hasn’t had a chance to respond to the evaluation yet” or present its corective action plan, Barón said. “For me, the question is, is that where we want to spend resources, or do we want to put those resources in a transition? I am not prepared to make that decision now.”

Whatever the county and city decide about the future of the regional homelessness agency, Barón said they’re going to have to figure out how to pay for any funds the KCRHA can’t account for, including overspending and the interest on loans it took out with the county. “Both of us were funders and I think there should be equitable and fair distribution of responsibility for those issues,” Barón said.

 

Police

Audit: Retiring SPD Officers Routinely Burn Through Months of Sick Time, Costing City Millions Each Year

SPD West Precinct

By Erica C. Barnett

As PubliCola reported last week, SPD Assistant Chief Todd Kibbee is on extended leave before his expected retirement, leaving taxpayers on the hook for his position as well as that of his replacement, Acting Assistant Chief Rob Brown. Like many SPD veterans before him, Kibbee appears to be “burning” his sick time prior to retiring, a common practice at SPD despite city policy that requires employees to provide verification that they have a valid reason for taking sick leave.

The practice allows retiring officers to earn full pay for every day of sick leave they’ve accumulated, even when they aren’t actually sick.

Earlier this year, the city’s Office of Inspector General released an audit into this practice, finding that the city spends about $3 million a year in so-called sick leave “for officers who are functionally retired,” plus another $900,000 a year for benefits such as retirement contributions that continue to accrue while these “functionally retired” officers are on leave.

According to the audit, nearly two-thirds of the SPD officers who retired between January 2018 and May 2024 did so after going on leave for more than two weeks, a status that puts them on a list of employees that are “unavailable” for assignments. “Among this group, the median employee was assigned to the ‘unavailable’ unit for 226 days,” according to the audit. After 2020, the percentage of retiring officers who took extended sick leave before separating from the department increased to 72 percent.

“Of the 276 sworn employees retiring from extended leave status, 219 (79%) used every full day of sick leave they had accrued,” the audit found.

PubliCola is supported entirely by readers like you.
CLICK BELOW to become a one-time or monthly contributor.

Support PubliCola

Notably, retiring SPD officers generally hang on to large amounts of vacation time, which “cashes out” at 100 percent—meaning that officers receive full pay for accrued vacation time they don’t use. In contrast, sick time only cashes out at 25 percent, so it’s more lucrative for officers to use up all their sick time and cash out their vacation time before retiring.

Not surprisingly, SPD officers generally hoarded their remaining vacation time and cashed it out after burning up their sick leave. By the time they retired, the median SPD retiree cashed out 251 hours of vacation time—nearly two months’ worth—and less than four hours of sick time.

Because retirement and other benefits keep accruing while employees are on sick leave, simply “paying sworn employees 100% of their sick leave to retire instead of going on extended leave, the City would have saved an average of at least $1.7 million per year,” the OIG found.

In theory, officers are supposed to provide a doctor’s note justifying their sick time when they return to duty, but since retiring officers never come back, they never have to show they were actually sick.

As part of the latest police contract, the Seattle Police Officers Guild agreed to come up with a policy that will require officers to provide verification from a health care provider that they have a legitimate reason to take extended sick leave. According to the department’s response to the audit, this policy will be implemented this year.

Asked about the timeline for implementing this new policy, SPD Chief Operating Officer Sarah Smith said “SPD is still in discussions with our labor partners regarding this matter. Once a final policy is finalized, we will provide more details.”

City Council, Elections, homelessness, King County, labor, Police

This Week On PubliCola: May 2, 2026
An illustration of what shelter-free “buffer zones” around child cares and schools might look like in Council District 3

Homeless agency audit fallout, councilmembers propose no-shelter zones, delivery worker pay increases, and more

Monday, April 17

After Board Meeting on Damning Audit, Talk Turns to “Winding Down” Homelessness Authority

After a presentation on a devastating forensic audit that found widespread financial problems and a lack of internal financial controls at the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, a consensus is growing among regional decision-makers that it’s time to start “winding down” the agency. The KCRHA itself would go on to release an FAQ later in the week that took little responsibility for the ongoing issues and suggested fixing them would be a relatively straightforward matter.

Tuesday, April 28

SPD Chief Questions Whether LEAD Diversion Program is “Meeting Expectations”

Although official SPD policy calls for diversion, rather than arrest and jail, when officers encounter someone violating the city’s laws against using drugs in public and simple drug possession, Police Chief Shon Barnes appeared to criticize the city’s main diversion program, LEAD, at a recent council meeting. Afterward, Councilmember Maritza Rivera suggested the program already has plenty of money.

Thursday, April 30

Proposed Changes to Wilson’s Shelter Plan Include Shelter-Free “Buffer” Zones, Mandatory Security

City Councilmembers Maritza Rivera and Joy Hollingsworth proposed amendments to Mayor Katie Wilson’s proposal to allow larger tiny house village-style shelters around Seattle. Their walk-on amendments would mandate 24-hour security and buffer zones around parks, schools, and child care centers for new micromodular shelters with more than 100 residents.

County Considers New Contract Oversight Office

After an audit revealed potential fraud and waste at King County’s Department of Community and Human Services, County Councilmembers are proposing an office of inspector general to provide a new layer of oversight to receive tips and conduct investigations into claims about contractor misuse of county funds.

Return-to-Office Booster Calls In Remotely as County Employees Criticize Three-Day Mandate

More than a dozen King County employees showed up to a King County Council meeting this week to testify against King County Executive Girmay Zahilay’s “return to office” mandate. One person who wasn’t there to hear their testimony in person: The council’s biggest RTO booster, Councilmember Reagan Dunn, who attended the meeting—as he often does—remotely.

Friday, May 1

Former Burien City Attorney and Ex-SPOG Leader Both Run for Office

Garmon Newsom II, until recently the Burien City Attorney, is running for an open Seattle Municipal Court seat; he defended many of the city’s anti-homeless policies, including a ban on sleeping in public and an attempt to shut down a private encampment at a church. And Mike Solan, the bombastic former Seattle Police Officers Guild president, just bought a house in Gig Harbor and plans to run for Pierce County Council as a Republican.

Seattle Is Paying Two Salaries for One SPD Position

Why does SPD have an acting assistant chief, rather than a permanent one? As it turns out, they have both. Todd Kibbee, the permanent acting chief, is burning his leave, with full pay, before he retires while Brown does his job.

Despite Dire Warnings, Delivery Worker Wages Increased Under PayUp Law

A recent analysis by the city’s Office of Labor Standards found that despite dire warnings from council members who wanted to overturn the law, a 2023 law guaranteeing higher hourly pay for delivery drivers resulted in higher pay overall, along with less reliance on tips.

Council Plans Data Center Moratorium

Three city councilmembers—Council President Joy Hollingsworth, Debora Juarez, and Eddie Lin—will propose legislation next week that would ban data centers inside city limits. The proposal comes in response to reports that companies were planning five data centers on land owned by Seattle City Light.

City Council, labor, Tech

Despite Dire Warnings, Delivery Worker Wages Increased Under PayUp Law; Council Plans Data Center Moratorium

By Erica C. Barnett

1. Former city councilmember Sara Nelson’s effort to repeal a law that increased the way “gig” workers’ salaries are calculated, which would have reduced their pay substantially and increased profits for companies like Uber and Doordash, died that September after six months of heated debate. (The proposal would have effectively overturned the PayUp law, just adopted the previous year, whicih required companies to pay some of the expenses drivers previously had to absorb—expenses that pushed drivers’ pre-tip pay below the legal minimum wage). Although four council members voted for the bill in committee, it died quietly in late 2024.

A recent study by the city’s Office of Labor Standards now confirms what many drivers themselves said when testifying against the Nelson bill: Between January 2024 and July 2025, the average pay for drivers working for the five largest delivery companies average pay increased despite a reduction in tips, indicating that the legislation raising worker pay succeeded at its goal. The study looked at the approximately 92,000 workers who drive for companies like Doordash, most of whom work part-time and use multiple apps.

What’s more, predictions that drivers would get fewer orders did not come true—instead, the number of orders grew by 3.2 percent. The number of drivers increased by a similar amount in the same period—2.8 percent.

Pre-tip pay for “engaged time”—time spent actively completing orders—rose to an average of $30.12 during the study period, after subtracting mileage expenses (the report does not include an average prior to 2024). Pay for “online time,” which includes time drivers spent waiting for orders to come in, rose to an average of $15.98 an hour. This was despite an increase in fees by delivery companies, which add to the cost of orders.

PubliCola is supported entirely by readers like you.
CLICK BELOW to become a one-time or monthly contributor.

Support PubliCola

The PayUp law required delivery companies to report detailed information about drivers and their earnings, which is how OLS had access to such an expansive dataset.

The report did confirm that tips declined a bit (by an average of $2.37 a week) after worker wages went up, increasing the cost of deliveries, but noted that the percentage of workers’ income made up by tips was much lower, since drivers’ new base pay is now more consistent and predictable. Most drivers work part-time, with average weekly wages rising from $314.40 to $341.62, including tips.

2. Three city councilmembers—Council President Joy Hollingsworth, Debora Juarez, and Eddie Lin—will propose legislation next week that would ban large new data centers inside city limits, they announced yesterday. The legislation comes in response to reports that unnamed companies were planning five data centers; according to the Seattle Times, which reported the initial news, two of the companies withdrew their proposals this week.

Editor’s note: This item initially said that the data centers were proposed on City Light-owned property. City Light told PubliCola that none of the centers were planned for City Light property. We regret the error.

 

Elections, Police

Former Burien City Attorney and Ex-SPOG Leader Both Run for Office; Seattle Is Paying Two Salaries for One SPD Position

1. Former Burien city attorney Garmon Newsom II has filed to run for the Seattle Municipal Court seat currently held by Judge Willie Gregory, who’s retiring. As PubliCola reported, Newsom was put on leave last year and returned only to be summarily fired by controversial city manager Adolfo Bailon earlier this month. The Burien City Council recently put Bailon on administrative leave.

As Burien city attorney, Newsom defended a city law that makes it illegal to sleep in public in the city, arguing that the ban created an “incentive” for people to go to shelter. (Burien does not have any year-round shelter for single adults).

He also argued for using city permitting rules to prohibit a church from hosting an encampment, and criticized the church for denying access to right-wing commentator Jonathan Choe, who was working for the Discovery Institute but whom Newsom described as a “member of the press.” During the debate over proposed shelter bans in Burien, we reported on a couple of instances in which he described existing or proposed laws inaccurately.

Newsom is represented by Northwest Passage, the Seattle consulting firm founded by Christian Sinderman. Last year, Northwest Passage was the consultant for then-mayor Bruce Harrell (who lost) as well as successful candidates Erika Evans (now Seattle City Attorney), Dionne Foster (now a Seattle councilmember) and Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck (who was reelected).

The other candidates in the race, so far, are Seattle attorney Lindsay Calkins and Snohomish County public defender Gabriel Rothstein.

2. Former Seattle Police Officers Guild director Mike Solan is running as a Republican for the Pierce County Council seat that’s currently held by Democrat Robyn Denson, who isn’t seeking reelection.

Solan has long lived in West Seattle, but Pierce County tax records indicate he bought a house in Gig Harbor last month. Solan is a controversial figure; in addition to (infamously) blaming the January 6, 2020, insurrection on Black Lives Matter protesters, Solan recently mocked the head of the city’s CARE Department and appeared to joke with then-SPOG vice president Daniel Auderer about the death of a young student killed in a crosswalk by a speeding cop.

Solan didn’t immediately respond to a text message asking about about his candidacy this morning.

Brenda Lykins, a former Gig Harbor City Council member, is running for the seat as a Democrat. So far, Solan has not reported any contributions.

3. During a presentation on the Law Enforcement Diversion program earlier this week, the Seattle Police Department was represented by Chief Shon Barnes as well as Acting Assistant Chief Rob Brown, a longtime captain and former South Precinct commander who now oversees operations.

Why does SPD have an acting assistant chief, rather than a permanent one? As it turns out, they have both. Todd Kibbee, the permanent acting chief, is out on paid leave while Brown does his job.

SPD Chief Operating Officer Sarah Smith would not confirm that Kibbee, who has been at SPD for 33 years, was burning his leave before retiring, a common practice that allows officers to continue receiving full pay and benefits while they use up their accrued sick and vacation time at the end of their careers. Smith said only that Kibbee was on “approved leave.”

Smith did not respond to questions about how long Kibbee would be on paid leave and whether Barnes plans to appoint Brown permanent assistant chief.

Kibbee makes around $313,000 a year, while Brown makes around $266,000, according to city salary data.

 

 

human services, King County, labor

County Considers New Contract Oversight Office; Return-to-Office Booster Calls In Remotely as County Employees Criticize Three-Day Mandate
Two recent views of King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn, a return-to-office proponent who frequently calls in to council meetings from remote locations.

1. In the wake of an audit that revealed potential fraud and waste at King County’s Department of Community and Human Services, County Councilmembers are proposing an office of inspector general to provide a new layer of oversight to receive tips and conduct investigations into claims about contractor misuse of county funds. A new inspector general’s office would cost around $800,000 a year, according to a presentation by the county auditor’s office last week.

County auditor Kymber Waltmunson said last week that an independent inspector general could augment the work the auditor and ombuds are already doing by setting up a hotline for anonymous tips, investigating fraud (the auditor does analyses but does not investigate), and actively monitoring contracts.

Rod Dembowski, one of the councilmembers who’s pushing for more oversight of county contracts, told PubliCola a new inspector general would “fill in a gap that we’ve identified” between the ombuds office, which oversees complaints about county employees, and the auditor’s office, which comes up with a work plan every year and conducts audits based on that plan.

“I’m trying to cover that gap where somebody believes something is being improperly done by a contractor or recipient of county funds,” Dembowski said. The IG would be “able to look at the actions of contract and grant recipients and see if there’s malfeasance or misfeasance there.”

County Councilmember Claudia Balducci said she agreed with Dembowski’s intention to encourage more active investigations into complaints about misuse of county funds, but isn’t convinced yet that the county needs to add a whole new office for that purpose. “I do think whatever happens needs to be nested within our current oversight [system.] I want to avoid creating overlaps and confusion.

She also isn’t convinced that the damning DCHS audit, which looked at a subset of contracts, necessarily indicates there are similar issues in other county contracts.

“I was hoping after the audit uncovered real lapses in oversight in a small number of our contracts, that someone would raise their hand and say, ‘Is this a bigger problem?'” Balducci said. “It might be. Or is it contained to some areas? But nobody in the system came out and said we should look more deeply.”

PubliCola is supported entirely by readers like you.
CLICK BELOW to become a one-time or monthly contributor.

Support PubliCola

2. More than a dozen King County employees showed up to a King County Council meeting this week to testify against King County Executive Girmay Zahilay’s “return to office” mandate, which would require most county employees, including those who were hired as remote workers, to commute to offices in downtown Seattle three days a week.

The mandate will require King County to rent a substantial amount of private office space in downtown Seattle, since the county does not have enough room for all its employees. Last week, county employees delivered a giant blank check to Zahilay’s office, representing the millions of dollars they estimate it will cost to rent office space so that everyone can have a desk downtown.

One of the most vocal advocates for a strict return-to-office policy has been Republican Councilmember Reagan Dunn, who went on KIRO Radio this week to declare, “There’s a new sheriff in town bringing employees back to King County so they can hang out around the water cooler and collaborate and do the people’s work.”

The county staffers, represented by PROTEC17, had a minute each to explain why commuting to a desk downtown would not make them more effective or efficient. Dunn, who lives 35 miles away from downtown Seattle, wasn’t around to listen, though. Instead, as he often does, he had called in to the meeting from a remote location.