‘Do a better job of handling taxpayers’ money’: Ursula says concerns over King County spending are changing her votes

King County suspended its contract with Urban Family after an outside financial review identified about $260,000 in likely duplicate billing. The organization works with the Regional Peacekeepers Collective, a county-funded gun violence prevention network.

Discussing the reported suspension during “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio, co-host Ursula Reutin questioned the county’s financial oversight, while co-host Gee Scott warned that repeated problems could lead officials to replace accounting positions with artificial intelligence.

“How about just doing the right thing with the money in the first place?” Ursula said. “This is bigger than just a question of one contractor. This is like, what is happening with King County? Is it a systemic problem?”

Ursula questions accountability for public spending

Ursula added that the review found likely duplicate charges for salaries, rent and other expenses, but noted it was not a criminal case.

“No one’s been charged with a crime. The county says that this remains an audit and a compliance matter,” Ursula said. “But at some point, you got to ask: Is there something really wrong with your system?”

The hosts played a recorded comment from King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn discussing the matter on “The Jason Rantz Show” on Seattle Red 770 AM. Gee questioned why Dunn was frequently the person raising concerns.

“Why in the world is it always Reagan Dunn that is coming out and telling folks, ‘Hey, there’s mismanagement of money again’?” Gee said. “By the way, this is not against Reagan Dunn.”

Gee warns accounting problems could lead to staffing cuts

Gee described a hypothetical department with 20 employees handling accounting and invoices. He imagined an official proposing that 17 positions be eliminated and three employees remain to oversee AI-assisted payment reviews.

“As someone who is always against any type of cuts, what I’m upset about is we are asking for AI to come and help with the situation because it keeps happening over and over and over,” Gee said.

Ursula questioned whether changing the tools would resolve the oversight issue.

“Even if you have three people in charge of the AI, someone’s got to flag it. Someone’s got to say something’s not right,” she said.

Gee returned to identifying who is responsible when something goes wrong.

“You and I keep having these discussions, and it’s always King County. It’s always the city of Seattle. It’s never someone,” Gee said.

Spending concerns change Ursula’s votes on taxes

Ursula discussed how the reports have affected her willingness to support additional taxes.

“I have always been someone who thinks if this is for the good of the people, I’m going to vote to tax myself because this is going to be beneficial, even though maybe it doesn’t affect me, but it’s going to affect other people positively,” Ursula said.

She contrasted that with her more recent decisions.

“I am more often a no vote when I’m asked to put more money, and I’m like, nope, you need to do a better job of handling taxpayers’ money,” Ursula said. “I think there’s going to be more and more people saying, ‘No, you don’t do a good job with my money, and I’m saying no.’”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.