Annual & Biennial Reports
In 2024, the Auditor’s Office conducted in-depth
reviews to help prevent financial errors, mitigate
risks, and enhance program effectiveness. Through
meticulous oversight and important, actionable
recommendations, we strengthened King County
stewardship and resource management. Our ability
to address both operational risks and strategic
barriers highlights the broad impact and value our
office brings to the County and the public.
Our focus on accountability, transparency, and equity will continue in 2025, as we complete audits on topics including civil asset forfeiture, medication management at King County jails, and cyber security, and we begin outreach to develop our 2026–27 work program.
Biennial Reports
As part of the 2018 revisions to the King County Charter, the Auditor produces biennial reports for three oversight areas: capital projects, law enforcement, and Metro Transit.
Capital Projects Oversight
The Capital Projects Oversight Program provides independent oversight of King County’s large capital construction efforts. The program promotes accountability and improved performance of capital projects and programs, with a focus on high-risk projects, and provides timely and useful information to Councilmembers and other county decision-makers. All program costs are funded through the Capital Improvement Program budget.
Law Enforcement
The King County Auditor’s Office performs independent oversight of county departments and offices for King County residents and policy-makers, improving the equity, efficiency, and effectiveness of county services through impactful audit recommendations. The King County Council established the Law Enforcement Audit Program within the Auditor’s Office in 2006 to specifically focus on oversight of the County’s criminal legal system. This biennial report addresses the Program’s work over the last two years.
Metro Transit
Through our work with King County Metro Transit Department (Metro Transit), we continue to focus on ensuring county residents have access to equitable, efficient, and effective transit services. Because the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted bus operations, we temporarily shifted our work to help ensure Metro Transit could dedicate its resources toward responding. To continue to provide timely and useful analysis and recommendations during this period, we included Metro Transit in our audit of King County’s pandemic response, which covered topics including employee safety and controls over federal emergency funding, among others. In 2021, we resumed conducting direct engagement with Metro Transit following up on previous recommendations and auditing bus collision and injury prevention and capital project management.