WA county spent $4.5M in 911 fees on a jail-and-courts antenna system
Summary
Pierce County, Washington used $4.5 million in restricted 911 emergency-call tax revenue to fix a radio dead zone at the jail-and-courts building in Tacoma. State auditors say that's not what the tax is for. The county says the law didn't say that yet when it spent the money.
What the audit found
Washington counties collect an enhanced 911 excise tax, capped at $0.70 per month per phone line under RCW 82.14B.030, and remit it to the local 911 call center. State law restricts the money to the county's "911 emergency communications system" -- specifically, supporting a caller reaching a call-taker, not services that come after the call is answered.
In June 2022, Pierce County used $4.5 million of that revenue to install a distributed antenna system (DAS) at its County-City Building in Tacoma, which houses the county jail, superior and district courts, the Tacoma Municipal Court, the sheriff, prosecutor and clerk -- and, at the time, the county executive and council, both of which have since relocated to a new county administrative building.
The audit⧉ found the county council had directed $4,551,390.00 transferred from the 911 fund under Ordinance No. 2021-100s2, against a Motorola public-works contract worth $4,535,000 to fix a radio "dead zone" in and around the building. Auditors, consulting the state's own 911 Coordination Office, concluded a DAS doesn't meet the legal definition of a 911 communications system because it doesn't carry the call from the dialer to the call-taker -- and recommended the county repay the money.
View data as table
| Pierce County's DAS diversion (June 2022) | 4,500,000 | Flagged by this audit; County disputes it |
|---|---|---|
| WA state legislature's own E-911 diversions since 2001 | 33,500,000 | Per the state's own cost study; unclear if repaid |
The county's defense
Pierce County disputes the finding, and its argument turns on timing. The county's transfer ordinance passed November 23, 2021; the Motorola contract was signed October 28, 2021. Both predate Substitute HB 1703⧉, which took effect June 9, 2022 and, the county says, was the first time the state's 911 Coordination Office gained any statutory authority to define which county E-911 expenditures are eligible at all. Under the law as it stood when the money was obligated, the county argues, counties' E-911 funds could support the full continuum from a citizen's call to a first responder's dispatch -- not just call-taking -- and a building-wide radio fix for a complex housing the jail, courts and sheriff fits within that.
Auditors weren't persuaded. Their Auditor's Remarks reject the county's response outright and reaffirm the finding, without directly rebutting the county's argument that the cited statute wasn't in effect when the funds were committed.
A familiar pattern
The county's response points out that the state's own record on this exact question is not clean. Citing the Washington Military Department's 2020 911 Cost Study Report, the county notes the state legislature itself has diverted almost $33.5 million in E-911 funds since 2001 to purchases outside the state's own allowed-use list -- and it's unclear from the record whether that money was ever repaid. A 2016 FCC report to Congress⧉ separately found Washington had diverted $5.88 million in 911 fees to Military Department activities and $134,211 to a State Patrol system upgrade -- diversions Washington hadn't disclosed in its own submission to that report. The state still received federal E-911 grant funding in 2019.
- Pierce County spent $4.5 million in restricted 911 call-taking tax revenue on a building antenna system, and a state audit says that use doesn't meet the legal definition of a 911 communications system.
- The county doesn't dispute the money was spent -- it disputes that the statute cited against it was even in effect when the funds were committed, since both the ordinance and the contract predate the June 2022 law change.
- The Washington Military Department cost study the audit itself relies on shows the state legislature has diverted almost $33.5 million in the state's own E-911 funds since 2001 -- with no record it was ever paid back.
The county says the underlying issue can't recur: as of January 2023, it transfers essentially all E-911 revenue straight to its PSAP/dispatch partner and no longer banks a surplus that could be redirected to capital projects like the DAS. That's the county's own characterization, not an auditor-verified figure. Auditors, for their part, say they'll check on the county's corrective action -- repayment or otherwise -- in the next audit cycle; this report doesn't show that has happened yet.
Sources(1) ▾
- Office of the Washington State Auditor, Accountability Audit Report, Pierce County, For the period January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023 (Report No. 1037450) (2025-06-05) — Primary source for every figure and quote in this piece: Finding 2023-001 (enhanced 911 excise tax revenue used on a building antenna system), the County's full written Response disputing the finding, the Auditor's Remarks re-affirming it, and the report's background sections on the County's budget, population and staffing. portal.sao.wa.gov · original document
Comments
Always open. Logged-in readers can annotate paragraphs in place.
A Washington State Auditor's Office review⧉ found Pierce County spent $4.5 million in restricted enhanced-911 excise tax revenue on a building antenna system in June 2022 -- money state law reserves for getting a 911 call from the caller to the call-taker, not for what happens after.