Auditor: County followed law in using tax money

YAKIMA -- On what has become the key issue in the race for Yakima County sheriff -- use of the three-tenths of a cent sales tax money voters approved in 2004 to fight crime -- state auditors have sided with the sheriff and county commissioners.

Auditors have concluded the county followed state law in how it used the tax money to fund sheriff's operations.

Specifically, auditors said the county didn't use the sales tax money as a replacement for its general revenues for the Sheriff's Office.

Auditors based the conclusion on evidence that Sheriff Ken Irwin received more money from general tax sources in 2008 and 2009 than he got in 2004, when the tax was approved.

The Attorney General's Office said essentially the same thing in 2005 when it was asked to provide guidance on the spending.

Irwin has come under fire for saying in 2004 that, if voters approved the tax, he'd be able to hire 14 more deputies. Instead, as county revenues declined, the money has helped retain deputies that would have otherwise been laid off.

County officials said the auditors' conclusion reinforces what they've said all along. But Irwin's general election challenger, former Yakima deputy chief Kelly Rosenow, and the deputies guild, continue to disagree and haven't ruled out a court challenge.

The tax is expected to generate $1.2 million for the Sheriff's Office this year.

State auditors looked into the three-tenths issue following a 2008 complaint filed by the deputies' union.

It has argued that using the county's use of the tax amounts to what's called supplanting -- the improper replacement of general funding, a violation of state law.

Jim Cline, a Seattle attorney representing the deputies union, said the auditors' review should have considered whether the county did what it said it would do: hire 14 more deputies.

"There is only a certain type of supplanting that is unlawful because of the way the attorney general has interpreted it," he said. "That doesn't make it right or consistent with what the voters thought they were getting."

Cline said the county should have provided adequate support each year to cover inflation so that Irwin could maintain staffing at the 2004 level.

The sales tax money, then, would provide the 14 deputies that were promised.

Instead, rising costs have outpaced available revenue. Wages and benefit spending has risen 31.5 percent since 2004, while total revenues, including the sales tax, grew by 19.3 percent.

The Sheriff's Office has the same number of road deputies and detectives it had before the tax passed. There are 60 commissioned officers, compared with 63 in 2004. The reductions have come in administrative and supervisory positions.

The number of commissioned officers rose to a peak of 68 in 2007 and 2008 before declining to the current level.

A total of 13 of the deputies are now funded by the three-tenths fund.

Rosenow, who got on the November ballot through a write-in campaign in the August primary, said he believes the sheriff misled the voters.

"I supported the three-tenths from the very beginning," Rosenow said Wednesday. "He broke his promise not only to me but to the people who voted for this."

Irwin said he's pleased the state Auditor's Office supports the county's contentions.

"These are simply difficult economic times and we are dealing with them the best we can, legally every step of the way," he said.

The state auditor's conclusion was relayed to county officials Monday.

County budget director Craig Warner said auditors told the county representatives at the meeting, including Commissioner Rand Elliott, Auditor Corky Mattingly, Irwin, Treasurer Ilene Thomson and Warner, they had no issue with the handling of the three-tenths.

"All we want to do is make sure we met the law and did not supplant," Warner said. "We believe we met the requirement to the satisfaction of the auditors."

* David Lester can be reached at 509-577-7674 or dlester@yakimaherald.com.