County officials concerned about more revenue woes

Wahkiakum County commissioners on Tuesday discussed a strategy for dealing with potential revenue shortages and acted on other business.

Commissioners are expecting tight revenues this year as sources that fuel the state government revenue stream--sales taxes, real estate taxes, excise taxes and revenue form the harvest of timber--dry up. County officials will have a finance committee meeting next Tuesday to continue developing their plans.

Treasurer Paula Holloway and Commissioners Dan Cothren, Blair Brady and Lisa Marsyla agreed that if it appears there will be a revenue shortfall, they must address the situation much sooner than they did last year.

Officials recognized last June there would be a shortfall, but they weren't able to implement measures to address the shortfall until October.

Cothren announced the county will receive less revenue, $900,000, from state managed timber than anticipated, $1.3 million, because part of the timber sale in question lies in Cowlitz County, so that portion of the revenue will go to Cowlitz.

Holloway announced that the Department of Natural Resources earlier this year sent $100,000 that was unanticipated in timber revenue. Those funds were mistakenly allocated to another timber trust beneficiary, she said.

DNR officials are scheduled to visit the commissioners March 24 to discuss the latest timber revenue forecasts.

Commissioner Brady said he wants officials to decide soon whether they think revenue provisions should be sent to voters in the fall elections. These matters could include votes on:

--continued support of the Cathlamet municipal swimming pool;

--a special levy or perhaps even formation of a hospital district to support the Wahkiakum Family Practice Clinic;

--a special levy for support of county park and recreation facilities.

Funding for the pool, parks and clinic now come out of the Current Expense Fund, and that fund is very strapped, Brady said.

In other business:

--Public Works Director Pete Ringen reported state officials are pressuring the county to spend $500,000 appropriated for construction of a new ferry terminal by the end of June.

The project was ready to go to bid at the end of 2007, but federal permit reviews have held it up. Ringen said the permits apparently are now ready. The funds possibly could be spent on engineering and materials acquisition, he said.

Ringen also reported that the state Department of Fish and Wildlife has said it wants the county to replace the 6-foot culvert that washed out in January flooding on East Valley Road with a 38-foot culvert or bridge. Federal emergency relief funds will cover the expense of only a 6-foot culvert, he said.

--Westend residents Poul Toftemark and Raven Webb urged the commission to intervene in land aquisition planned by Columbia Land Trust and funded by Bonneville Power Administration.

Land trust habitat restoration projects, they said, have adversely impacted people living in the lower Grays River and Deep River valleys, they said.

Commissioner Marsyla, who took office just this year, said she wanted to meet with different parties to learn about Grays River issues.

"I'm not happy about it," Brady said of the proposed land acquisitions.

"I'm not saying either way, but we've had some unique storms in the past few years," Cothren said. "We've had 500 year floods. Maybe overharvesting timber has changed the watersheds."

--The board agreed on final revisions to the proposed updates to the county comprehensive plan. The board will vote on the revisions at its April 7 meeting.