‘Numbers don’t lie, people do’: Advocate questions King County’s $1B budget discrepancy

Kevin Altheimer is known as a “thorn in the side” for King County council members during meetings over the current budget. Altheimer’s latest grievance was over a massive discrepancy in the Department of Community and Health Services audit, which previously was allocated $17 million for juvenile diversion, but the audit has since expanded to $1.8 billion.

Altheimer joined “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio to detail his concerns over the legitimacy of the new ordinance, how it may be a potential waste of taxpayer dollars, and why he has a personal passion for diving into the statistics.

“I’m a taxpayer, and we’re taxpayers, whenever taxpayers are being given information about what happens with their tax dollars, and then you end up creating a whole new ordinance where you’re spending way more money than what was so-called spent,” Altheimer said.

“They have allocated, just for the Public Defenders Office, I think juvenile diversion public defenders and also probation officers, three of those people $900 million in this new ordinance,” Altheimer continued. “If we were talking about $17 million that you were arguing about, how do we end up paying these people $900 million in this new ordinance? It’s right there, plain language. I’m not into just taxing me to death to pay for programs, so that concerned me.”

Budget watchdog demands answers for King County’s $17M to $1.8B budget jump

Altheimer questioned why a new ordinance was needed if there was no waste and was confused about the emergency measures surrounding the audit.

“I don’t know what they think is going to happen, but I’ll just put it this way. I’m just asking questions,” Altheimer said. “What are the numbers? If the taxpayers were told that there were millions and millions of dollars of waste, fraud, and abuse. If there wasn’t any waste, then why is there a new ordinance? Why is all this emergency stuff going on?

Altheimer emphasized that his concerns are rooted in the data, not in personal attacks, and that, for him, the issue comes down to accountability.

“It’s not personal. It’s about the numbers, as I learned very young, numbers don’t lie, but people do,” Altheimer said. “So if the numbers are off, then everything that promoted this is off. What I’m saying is, can we just get to the facts? If there were millions and millions of dollars being wasted in a juvenile diversion audit, you’re only spending $17 million, then how is it that we get up to $1.8 billion? That’s all I’m asking.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

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