County budget to finish today

Wahkiakum County commissioners planned Tuesday to finish their 2011 budget preparations when they conclude an adjourned meeting this morning (Thursday) at 8:45 a.m.

Commissioners had no public input on their budgets when they held a public hearing on Monday.

They discussed some requests and changes on Tuesday and adjourned their meeting to Thursday to go over the final figures.

The commission scheduled a public hearing for December 28 to make last-minute changes to their 2010 budget to handle a potential influx of revenue from state managed trust timberland.

Treasurer Paula Holloway and Auditor Diane Tischer suggested the hearing and a resolution to amend the 2010 budget. They said a contractor has finished logging a timber sale on county trust land, and it is possible the Department of Natural Resources, which manages the trust lands for the county, will credit the contractor's final payment to the county during 2010. This could give the county a revenue surplus, and under the state law for the county's timber trust, the unused funds would be returned to the state.

County officials had budgeted the revenue for 2011. They'll prepare a resolution to supplement one of the county's cumulative reserves, which will allow the revenue to be used in 2011.

On Tuesday, officials took care of one request from Assessor-elect Bill Coons and rejected another.

Coons had asked Commissioners Blair Brady, Dan Cothren and Lisa Marsyla to increase funding for the department's clerk/deputy; he noted that the department is in the midst of a major computer programming transition and needs staff to handle its workload.

Auditor Tischer noted that the amount listed in the proposed budget was incorrect; it should have been $26,532, she said, which would fund the position full time for six months and half time for six months. The commissioners accepted the correction.

However, Coons also requested increasing from $500 to $2,000 the amount listed for tax payer outreach.

"The conversion to annual revaluation will require lots of changes," he told commissioners in an email, "both in the operation of the assessor's office and in how the public understands the process of property valuation and taxation. This would seem to require more resources in Tax Payer Outreach rather than less."

Commissioners, however, said they didn't want to increase the amount.

The commissioners did include $25,000 in the budget for the Wahkiakum Chamber of Commerce.

The Chamber and the Lower Columbia Economic Development Council are combining, and both have received funds from dedicated sources for promoting tourism and other economic development activities. A letter from Chamber President Jennifer Hanigan outlined the request and included a list of the organization's goals for 2011.

Board Chair Brady said that the initial funding for the group was suggested at $20,000 and now they're asking for $25,000. That's a 20 percent increase, he said, which isn't a slight increase.

Chamber representative Sandi Benbrook-Rieder explained that the groups are hurrying to get the merger accomplished by the end of the year. They had originally requested $29,000, she said, but after looking at available funds, they lowered the request to $25,000.