Commissioners adopt 2009 budget without tax increase

Wahkiakum County commissioners adopted their 2009 budgets last week and voted 2-1 not to increase property taxes.

The action came last Thursday when their board reconvened their December 2 meeting to finish work on the 2009 budgets.

Commissioner Blair Brady had proposed a 1 percent increase in the county levies as preparation for seeking special appropriations from the state legislature to help the county cover its revenue shortfalls.

The 1 percent would average out between $2 and $3 per person per year, he said.

However, Commissioners Dan Cothren and George Trott opposed the increase. Both have said they don't want to raise taxes while the local and national economies are so bad.

The board added two conditions to 2009 spending: They passed a motion not to allow any expenditures that exceed budget line items in 2009, and they voted to continue a policy started this year restricting travel and prohibiting overtime hours and hiring of new personnel.

On Tuesday, the board approved a subdivision adjacent to the Skyline Golf Course and acted on other matters.

Applicants Fairway View Partners, LLC, proposed a nine-unit subdivision on 2.58 acres. Permit Coordinator Chuck Beyer said the applicants had reduce the lot number from 11 to nine because of size issues; they reserved onlelarge lot for future development.

The subdivision will use Town of Cathlamet water and sewer lines.

Commissioner Cothren commented that town officials and residents of the Clover Street area have propsed a neighborhood meeting to discuss formation of a local improvement district so that residences now on private septic sewer systems could connect to the sewer main, which was constructed about three years ago.

Cothren will meet today (Thursday) with Peter Goldmark, who has been elected new commissioner of public lands and will manage the state Department of Natural Resources.

The DNR manages 12,900 acres of county trust timberland, and timber revenue has traditionally been a mainstay for the county budgets.

Cothren has been working with legislators and DNR personnel to draft legislation to replace county timberland which the department has locked up as a habitat for endangered species.

"I'm excited to be meeting him," Cothren said. "I'm looking forward to this."