The office of County Auditor was established as an elective office in 1854 and existed in King County until the King County Charter became effective in 1969. The Auditor's duties included preserving public records, supervising elections and voter registration, and keeping the records of the County Commissioners. Most of the duties of the County Auditor were assumed by the Department of Executive Administration, Records and Elections Division under the Charter. After 1969, the term "County Auditor" refers to an office of the County Council charged with conducting fiscal and management audits of county agencies and programs.

040-453 Audit audit reports, 1895 -1969
The auditor's annual report of the financial status of King County details monies received from all sources, principally taxes, and the disbursement of monies by county agencies. It also summarizes the county's general resources, liabilities and indebtedness. Records of specialized taxing districts (e.g., school or road districts) are presented separately. Additional report information varies over time, but may include rosters of officials, lists of fees, county budgets, lists of property owned or leased by King County, special budget and fund accounts, etc. The reports in this series have been arranged in chronological order.

Volume: 2.25 cu ft

040-279 Audit reports, 1909 -1940
Reports of management and fiscal audits of county institutions and programs containing description of programs, floor plans of buildings used for program purposes, equipment inventories and financial information. Institutions audited include the county farm, the county- and WPA-operated Kirkland food processing plant, the County Tuberculosis Hospital, the County Home, the county hospital system and the county's ferry system. Most of the reports were written in the 1930s; only a few include information from earlier decades.

Volume: 0.45 cu ft

040-438 Budgets, 1917-1969
County Auditor's annual budget: adopted plan of expenditures for funds appropriated to County offices by the Commissioners. Volumes for 1917-1920 and 1924-1925 are final working drafts with notes and totals pencilled in by the auditor and other county officials.

Volume: 0.8 cu ft

Note: Published budgets for 1930-1970 are also available at the Puget Sound Regional Archives.

040-451 Corporate filings, 1930-1965
Washington State required companies selling stock to state residents to maintain an office in the state, and to file annual statements regarding the companies' financial condition. Specific legislation (Chapter 178, Laws of 1937) applied to metalliferous mining companies; this was later extended to oil and gas drilling and to non-metalliferous mining. Duplicate annual statements were filed with the state Department of Licenses and with the auditor of the county in which the company's principal office was located. This record series consists of the records that were filed with the King County auditor. The filings are principally the statutory statements of mining companies selling stock within Washington State. The actual properties of most companies were located in other states (Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Nebraska and Nevada) but records for Washington companies in Benton, Grays Harbor, Kittitas, Okanogan, Pierce, Snohomish and Whatcom counties are present. Also present (particularly for the period 1960-1965) are records for other types of corporations, including Seattle and King County businesses and non-profit organizations. Records for each company may include articles of incorporation, bylaws, company histories, annual narrative and financial reports, prospectuses and circulars, sample stock certificates, maps and plans of sites and facilities, equipment inventories, geological reports, photographs, and copies of other legal instruments. Arrangement is by the auditor's filing number (roughly chronological).

Volume: 2.33 cu ft

040-490 Donation Land Claim Maps, 1861-1882
Under the Oregon Donation Land Act of 1850, Congress allowed 320 acres of land in Western territories to be claimed by a single person and 640 acres by a married couple. The claimants received final title to the land when they had lived on it four years and made certain improvements, or when they purchased their lands in lieu of fulfilling residency requirements. This volume of maps shows donation land claims, and other subsequent property holdings, in King County. The volume (probably a transcription, c.1882, of U.S. Surveyor General maps) is a small (16 inches by 14 inches) bound blank folio into which thirty-six township maps have been drawn. Initial cartography utilized colored inks and a colored wash; later annotations were made in pencil. Each donation land claim is outlined in black ink and contains, as record information, owner name, acreage, claim number, and notification number. Coal lands and ""cash entries"" (claimant had purchased the land) are noted. Names and numbers correspond with entries in Series 040-341, Field Survey Notes: Donation Land Claims (1882). In addition to property holdings, maps show watercourses (streams, springs, ponds, lakes); prairies and wetlands; resources (coal deposits, cranberry bogs); structures (roads, trails, wagon roads, school); and Native American villages and reservations. The volume is arranged in ascending numerical order by range (2-6) and within each range, by township (21-26). Related series: 040-341, General Land Office field notes, 1856-1913 (volume 7).

Volume: 1 Volume

040-341 General Land Office field notes, 1856 - 1913
This series consists of handwritten transcriptions of the survey field notes of United States General Land Office surveyors. Two types of surveys are present. Both include notes on, or references to, the natural and built environment (topography, bodies of water, vegetation, soils, trails, roads, settlements, existing at the time of the survey.

1. Traverses performed to locate section corners, to establish river meanders, and to survey shorelines, 1856-1913. The notes are transcribed into six bound volumes arranged by range number (2-11, 13). Range notes are subarranged by township. Index maps at the beginning of township notes provide page references for locating surveys of specific section boundaries within that township. Notes of shoreline and meander surveys are transcribed at the end of township notes. Related survey maps, and partial text of field notes, are available electronically.

2. Boundary surveys of donation land claims in King County, 1861-1882. Under the Oregon Donation Land Act of 1850, Congress allowed land in Western territories to be claimed by married and single settlers. The claimants received final title to the land when they had lived on it four years and made certain improvements, or when they purchased their lands in lieu of fulfilling residency requirements. Notes in this volume include, for each claimant, claim and notification numbers, acreage, date of survey, section-township-range information, and claim boundary survey notations. The volume is arranged din general chronological order by date of survey. A name index by claimant surname is present. Related series: 040-490, Donation Land Claim maps, 1861-1882.

Volume: 7 volumes

040-85 Index to vault file and records, 1940-1979
Index to records held by Auditor. Shows file number, case number, date and nature of filing. Files indexed include declarations of candidature for county and state offices; oaths of office for elected and appointed officials; official filings such as zoning maps (1940-1962); bonds, contracts and agreements involving the county; and plat vacations. Many of the records indexed here have been destroyed; others such as zoning maps and plat vacation files still exist.

Volume: .3 cu ft

Indexes for the years 1890-1936 (2 cu ft) are located at the Regional Archives.

040-340 Mining location recordings, 1871 - 1970
Recording of mining claim locations filed with the county auditor. Include dates of discovery and location, name of claimant, location of claim, and date of filing.

Volume: 6 cu ft

040-51 Oaths of office, 1913-1927
Oaths of office for elected and appointed officials, including justices of the peace, constables, election officers, game wardens, humane society officers, and sheriff's deputies. Arranged by filing number in approximate chronological order.

Volume: 1.7 cu ft

040-334 Plat books, 1853 - 1877
Plats for King County subdivisions.

Volume: 0.2 cu ft

040-332 Shoreline plats, 1895 - 1921
Maps produced by the Washington State Board of Appraisers of Tide and Shore Lands and the Commissioner of Public Lands defining extent of state-owned shore lands and tide lands. Coverage includes Seattle, Ballard, and Tacoma tide lands and Renton and Lake Washington shore lands. Maps show actual shore line at time of survey, property lines; some maps show buildings. Most areas were mapped first in 1894-95 and again at a later date. Lake Washington shore lands were mapped before and after the lowering of the lake in 1916.

Volume: 5 cu ft

040-407 State examination reports reference file, 1905 - 1926
The Bureau of Inspection and Supervision of Public Offices functioned as an independent state agency between 1909 and 1921. It was charged with the final fiscal auditing of all county account books. Each county auditor was an ex officio deputy supervisor of the Bureau. This reference file, maintained by the King County Auditor, consists of summary reports (covering one year or several) of primarily fiscal audits of King County officials and agencies. Some administrative and procedural commentary and recommendations may be included. Reports cover officials (commissioners, sheriff, constables, justices of the peace, etc.); water and drainage districts, bridge and road districts, school districts; commercial waterways; the county Game Commission (1918-1923); the Port of Seattle (1916); and the King County hospital at Georgetown (1912, 1916). The Bureau was succeeded by the Municipal Corporations Division of the state auditor's office after 1921.

Volume: 2.3 cu ft