Whitman County commissioners approved the first budget amendment of the year Monday, reallocating $68,000 in contingency funding to cover new operating costs while the board also dismissed several outstanding tax debts from bankrupt businesses such as Blockbuster Video.
County Administrative Director Gary Petrovich explained most of the budget amendment would go toward converting a current Facilities Management employee from maintenance to a director position. They had set aside $55,000 in potential salary and benefit costs.
“They may not need the entire $55,000,” he noted, depending on when the job changes and how the position is finalized.
Newly elected Auditor Sandy Jamison received an additional $7,299 to cover staff costs and office updates she believes should be added to the 2019 budget prepared by the previous auditor.
“I want the Commissioners to know that I do not take budget amendment requests lightly,” she wrote in a letter. “I am trying to work well within my inherited budget, but I believe the items listed … are truly necessary for the Auditor’s office and were not appropriately included in the 2019 budget.”
Most of the money would go toward expanding the job description of a financial specialist position to include new duties across Payroll, Accounts Payable and Elections functions. The increase amounts to $4,547.
Jamison told commissioners she planned to “revamp” the position to make it more versatile: “That came with some increase in dollars.”
Another $1,611 would go toward office upgrades such as window blinds and $1,141 would go toward repaying a staffer for overdue mileage.
Commissioners also authorized a $4,897 increase to cover a $2 an hour raise for a Parks department employee.
In additional the General Fund changes, the board also unanimously approved updating the budget to include $3.3 million in additional funding. Most of that came from capital projects such as the new fair grandstands and starting balance totals that came out higher than previously estimated.
Newly elected county Treasurer Chris Nelson also reported her office had found 81 delinquent tax accounts that totaled about $160,000 including interests. She had sent out 67 letters to individual to collect those debts.
Nelson also asked the board to dismiss seven overdue accounts from the list — a total of $7,466 from mostly bankrupt or closed businesses such as Blockbuster Video and the former Pullman Baskin & Robbins.
“The efforts to obtain those monies would be very difficult,” Nelson said, noting the staff time to collect those debts would probably not be worthwhile.
The board unanimously agreed.
County Assessor Robin Jones presented a report on the expected tax revenue for 2019. The report outlined $6.5 million in total taxes on about $4.2 billion in assessed property and utility value throughout the county.
“This is just what the taxing districts are going to collect this year,” she told commissioners. “Everybody is getting what they asked for.”
The board also approved declaring several vehicles and pieces of heavy machinery as surplus and scheduled a public hearing on proposed changes to county travel reimbursement policies for Feb. 19.
