A recent state audit found a subsidized bus ticket program that allows more than 60 county agencies to offer discount tickets to homeless and low-income riders could benefit from more oversight.
The Washington State Auditor’s Office released an accountability audit late last month that found King County didn’t do enough to ensure tickets given out through its Reduced Fare Bus Ticket Program in 2012 were used for their intended purpose. The tickets are distributed by Metro, which will invest up to $1.875 million to subsidize tickets this year.
According to the audit, King County didn’t enter into agreements with agencies that use the program, making it hard to hold those agencies accountable. The county also failed to monitor organizations to verify tickets were distributed to low-income and homeless bus riders.
Sherry Hamilton, community manager for the county’s Department of Community and Health Services (DCHS), said the audit took place in 2012, as the county was already exploring ways to strengthen the program.
“We didn’t have anything to show them then,” she said.
Now the county requires agencies to fill out a log to track each ticket that’s distributed, Hamilton said. If an agency hands out 1,000 tickets in one month, each ticket must be listed. Together, 62 agencies take part in the program.
Participating human service organizations pay 20 percent of the bus ticket’s face value. Metro pays the remaining 80 percent.
The King County Council allocates funds for the ticket program, which officially began in 1993. Since then, it’s grown into an important program that serves low-income people, Hamilton said.
“This is the only time the program has been audited,” Hamilton said.
The audit covered county practices from July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012.
Agencies that wish to take part in the bus ticket programs are required to submit applications to DCHS, Hamilton said. To be approved, agencies must show that the bulk of their services assist people outside of Seattle city limits. (Seattle runs a similar reduced ticket program for city-based agencies, but the state audit did not examine the city’s program.)
An agency’s ticket log must include information that explains why the person needed the ticket: whether it was for transportation to acquire housing assistance, food assistance, work, health care or crisis intervention. The log also requires that agencies tabulate how many ticket recipients are homeless.
The audit stated county officials learned that one organization had five separate incidents of ticket “misappropriation.” The lost tickets were valued at close to $900, the audit found.
Hamilton said she did not know which agency accounted for the loss.
Along with a recommendation for increased tracking of ticket distribution, the audit suggested the county better evaluate the geographic region the agencies serve, as well as determine which department in an agency monitors the program.
Mike Heinisch, CEO of Kent Youth and Family Services (KYFS), said the agency purchased more than 2,500 youth bus tickets this year. The tickets provide young people transportation to programs such as mental health services and substance abuse treatment, he said.
Since Metro already provides KYFS with a log to track ticket distribution, he said the audit won’t alter how the program is run.