Govern~Mental Meltdown on Finances in Snohomish County

According to Snohomish County Council we have money to hire people

Oh wait we don’t have money to hire people

The sky is falling we don’t have any money, and that stupid Everett Mayor is being a mean mean man so we can’t build a jail or hire new people

Oh oops, we jokes, we got money we can hire people and give back taxes

This is what happens when elected leaders are going for reelection points, they hide true numbers from the council, and go on a PR roll to keep the media focus on themselves.

It also shows that no one in charge knows what in the world is going on

Here is a better take on it from “Miller”

Miller • 3 days ago

August 20th – Bright Outlook from Lovick on county finances
August 26th – Snohomish County Council considers a hiring freeze
September 16th – County Council to vote on mostly symbolic hiring freeze
September 17 – County Council delays vote on hiring freeze
September 23 – Council freezes budget for new Snohomish County courthouse
September 24th – Snohomish County hiring freeze proposal dropped

Is anyone else getting whiplash reading these? We propose the freezed due to concerns regarding the budget – but ultimately drop it because “Several department heads have made persuasive arguments about why the freeze shouldn’t apply to their staff.” Persuasive arguments are one thing, but if the county is not fiscally sound, and you are hiring people who will ultimately result in lay-offs, then each of those department heads or electeds that continue to hire should be held accountable.

Just to make matters worse a whistleblower came forward and said he was forced to inflate the prices of vehicle stipends for those in the Executives office and some other higher ups…

So no one seems to know what is going on with Snohomish County finances unless they are fudging around with the numbers and there are so many folks ordering others to inflate prices, and move money around that we may never know until the county falls flat on it face. For the 3 time in just a few months I have heard from county insiders that they are taking money from other projects and funds just to make payroll.

Sadly if there is no money for employees, or employee needs then there will be no money for the victims of the Oso tragedy, or the families of those who died in the jail or at the hands of a County Employee. There will be a breaking story soon about some of the dangers but I advised the person to go to the bigger media outlets first. We will do follow ups after the story goes mainstream. Yes I would love to be the one to break the story but I have to make sure the message gets out before my own ambition. This newspaper’s mission is to serve the public and that’s the bottom line.