Whitman County Commissioners considered new annual expense figures this morning as part of ongoing budget hearings for 2019. The board will continue those efforts at 9 a.m. Tuesday during an all-day budget workshop.
“We have some work to do tomorrow,” Commissioner Dean Kinzer said.
County administrative director Gary Petrovich briefed the board on the current total expenditures for the county, estimating personnel and operations would cost more than $61 million. See estimates here (pdf).
Within the county’s General Fund, Petrovich said department have budgeted for expenses totaling $16 million with estimated revenue at about $15.6 million, leaving a projected deficit of $996,000.
Petrovich noted that deficit includes about $500,000 in one-time IT investments. The county also expects to have some cash left over from 2018 operations.
“You see that going up or down?” Commissioner Art Swannack asked of revenue and 2018 carryover.
“Up,” Petrovich said.
Commissioners will hear more about revenue projections during the budget workshop tomorrow. That meeting is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the board’s conference room at the county courthouse.
During a workshop prior to the meeting, Kinzer also provided a list of “front-burner” budget priorities (see below) in response to a constituent’s questions about county zoning practices. The sheet notes “most of which are underfunded and are stretching our resources beyond capacity.”
Some of those items included rebuilding the fire-damaged waste transfer facility, keeping the Whitcom dispatch system sustainable and implementing a Geographic Information System.
“We’ve got more emergent issues to deal with,” he noted.
BOCC Budget Priorities Oct. 15 by on Scribd