September 7, 2000

Sound Transit says delay for new audit could kill Link project

Sound Transit, facing mounting criticism of its Link light rail plan, circled the wagons yesterday and went on the offensive against a proposal to delay the project for three months in order to conduct a new audit.

With Sound Transit political and business supporters gathered at a press conference, Dave Earling, chair of the Sound Transit board and an Edmonds city councilman, said critics of the plan "wish to substitute their judgement over that of the voters."

Four years ago, voters in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties approved the sales and automobile levies that led to the creation of Sound Transit.

Earlier yesterday morning, an open letter from a large group of elected officials and concerned citizens was unveiled, questioning Sound Transit's budgeting for Link, its method of paying for cost overruns and its ridership projections. The signers included King County councilmembers Rob McKenna and Maggi Fimia as well as former Gov. Booth Gardner and Seattle City Councilmember Nick Licata.

The group called for a three-month delay in which to conduct a new audit. As proposed, Sound Transit would pick one auditor, citizens independent of the agency would pick another and the two parties together would pick a third small panel to arbitrate. The group also proposes to split the audit cost with Sound Transit.

According to the letter, the audit would cover cost and ridership estimates and Sound Transit's "financial capability to implement the Sound Move plan consistent with existing financial policies."

The proposal comes at a critical time for Link. Sound Transit is in confidential negotiations with Modern Transit Contractors for a design-build contract for the Link tunnel which would run from downtown to Northeast 45th Street. That work is budgeted at $557 million. Also, a $500 million federal funding grant agreement for the project is expected to move to Congress for approval sometime this week.

Last week a group of local officials asked to review the proposals and bids associated with the tunnel contract. They were rebuffed by Sound Transit, which cited its need for confidentiality during the negotiation process.

Earling rejected the idea of a new audit. "Sound Transit is under more scrutiny than any other public works project in Washington and the Northwest... and maybe in the country."

Currently, he said, Sound Transit is subject to state audits, audits by the accounting firm of Deloitte and Touche, reports by the Sound Transit Citizens Oversight Committee and oversight from the Federal Transit Administration.

Earling said delay now could kill Sound Transit. "It will be years or never before we're queued up again" for the federal transit dollars. The next transit project funding window is expected to be 2004.

King County Executive Ron Sims harkened back to the early 1970s when Seattle failed to go forward with a transit plan that would have been 80 percent funded by federal money.

Now, he said, "Congestion is being compounded by political gridlock." Sims also said a delay would hurt the region's business climate.

"Companies will relocate to other areas rather than wait for us to act... It's time to move on," he said.

Bob Watt, chair of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce echoed that sentiment, saying Seattle has the third highest congestion costs in the nation.

"Companies are already making decisions," Watt said. "We can't afford delay. More Seattle process is not progress."

Licata, however, disagreed with the dire assessments of delay.

"This is the last chance that citizens in the region are going to have to evaluate if Sound Transit light rail is going to be the right way to go," Licata said. An eleventh hour review is needed because, "A vastly overbudget project begins to distort the intent of the voters."

Matt Griffin of Pine Street Development also signed the letter, saying the project need further study. "Seattle should pause and independently evaluate this project."

For now, Sound Transit is planning to move ahead according to its schedule. By November, a tunnel contract agreement and the federal grant are expected to be in place, accompanied by a finance plan that takes those developments into account.

Those three documents will then be reviewed by the Sound Transit Financial Board, chaired by Greg Nickels of the King County Council. Then the Sound Transit Board will conduct its review and hold a vote.

"Sound Transit will not turn a shovel of dirt," for Link light rail, "until we know we can pay for it," Earling said.

If Sound Transit fails to agree to the additional audit, Licata predicts legal action will be brought against the agency. "I don't think elected officials are going to go in that direction," he says, but some of the other signatories might.

"The next seven days will tell," Licata said.

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