Audit-related clippings

Thursday, September 7, 2000, 12:00 a.m. Pacific Sound Transit says no to audit by Andrew Garber Seattle Times staff reporter Sound Transit yesterday rejected demands for a review of its ability to pay for a 21-mile light-rail system. A coalition of elected officials, activists, businessmen and community leaders is calling for an independent audit, contending that Sound Transit is way over budget. The group yesterday urged the regional agency to reassess its situation before accepting federal money. Sound Transit officials said there were no cost overruns and no need for an audit. "We're already audited to death," said Dave Earling, chairman of the Sound Transit board. He said the request for a review is another attempt by critics to kill light rail, projected to cost about $2.4 billion. "They have simply twisted the truth to suggest a crisis, when in fact there isn't any," he said. The two sides held dueling news conferences yesterday to argue the costs and merits of light rail. The system, approved by voters in 1996, would stretch from SeaTac to Seattle's University District. The debate over light rail intensified recently after King County Executive Ron Sims proposed raising the sales tax to pay for transportation projects, including extension of light rail from the U District to Northgate. Metropolitan King County Councilwoman Maggi Fimia, D-Shoreline, has opposed Sims' proposal and has pushed an alternative plan that ...