Opinion: Sunlight is still the best disinfectant

🎧 Budget Season Is Now. Are You Watching?

Former Camas City Councilor Leslie Lewallen shares her thoughts on budget season

Leslie Lewallen, director

Clark County Future 42

Leslie Lewallen

While Clark County residents have been enjoying the summer weather, local governments have been quietly setting the stage for adoption of their local budgets.

Clark County is developing department requests now, with the county manager’s recommended budget expected in November and final adoption in early December. Vancouver is advancing its 2027-2028 biennial budget, with key workshops this fall and adoption by year-end. Camas is following the same fall timeline for its biennial budget. Battle Ground, Washougal, Ridgefield, La Center, and Yacolt are on the standard city schedule, with department estimates due in September and final adoption required by December 31.

The decisions that will shape next year’s spending are being made right now, and citizens and taxpayers should be paying careful attention and asking detailed questions.

Justice Louis Brandeis was right: “Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.”

Government exists to serve the people. The money being spent is not the city’s or the county’s money—it is our money. These are taxpayer dollars entrusted to elected officials. That trust carries a clear obligation: spend it wisely, account for every dollar, and operate with complete transparency. We deserve accountability and transparency not only from our elected officials, but from city and county staff as well.

Recent audits from the Washington State Auditor’s Office show why this matters.

For the third consecutive year, the city of Camas received findings of significant deficiencies in internal controls over financial reporting. The 2024 audit found the city failed to properly evaluate the useful lives of capital assets, leaving roughly $47 million reported as fully depreciated while still in use. Independent review of financial transactions was inadequate, and the process for preparing financial statements was insufficient to ensure accuracy. Similar problems appeared in 2022 and 2023.

Vancouver has faced its own repeated scrutiny. A recent state audit found deficiencies in internal controls that allowed material errors to go undetected, including the improper recording of $18.3 million in Proposition 2 fire-levy revenues. Earlier audits flagged inadequate tracking of police assets, including missing firearms.

Clark County’s recent accountability audits have generally been cleaner. That is positive, but it does not lower the standard the public should expect. Strong internal controls and open answers remain the best protection against waste and abuse.

Before any budget is adopted, citizens should demand clear, written answers to these ten questions:

1.  How much did we spend — and what did we measurably get for it?

2.  Who verifies invoices and eligibility before payment, and how often is verification actually done?

3.  How much flows through nonprofits or vendors — and who audits their performance?

4.  What is your improper-payment rate, and how do you measure it?

5.  How many sole-source or emergency contracts did you award last year, and why?

6.  What did your last audit find — and which findings are still open today?

7.  How large are your unspent and carryforward balances, and what are they for?

8.  How many whistleblower or fraud complaints did you receive — and what happened to each?

9.  Has a grantee ever lost funding for missing targets? Name one.

10.  If fraud were occurring in this program right now, how would you know?

These are not “gotcha” questions. They are the minimum standard of responsible stewardship of public money. They apply to Vancouver, Camas, Battle Ground, Washougal, Ridgefield, La Center, Yacolt, Clark County, and every department and employee that spends taxpayer dollars.

Budgets lock in spending for years. The time to demand measurable results and honest answers is before the final vote—not after the money is gone.

Contact your mayor, council members, county councilors, and the staff who prepare these budgets. Ask for written answers. Request that the responses be posted publicly with the budget materials. Attend the workshops and hearings. Insist that open audit findings be resolved before new spending is approved.

Demand full accountability and transparency before budgets are passed. I also encourage citizens to visit Clark County Future 42 at future42.org to review our local government scorecards and legislative scorecards to see how your elected officials and representatives have voted previously on budget issues.