Commissioners keep tight rein on county budget

Wahkiakum County commissioners on Tuesday approved final budgets for 2012, maintaining the conservative tone they established several years ago in the face of declining revenues.

Their theme this year has been to get department spending levels back to 2010, or lower.

Assessor Bill Coons implored the board to give him funds for hire part-time personnel, but they rejected his pleas.

They also rejected a plea for a change in how state funds are spent for the Wahkiakum County Fair, and board Chair Lisa Marsyla couldn't get a second on her motion to approve a $3,000 appropriation to support the Cathlamet municipal library.

County officials are worried that they'll face another round of reduced funding from the state of Washington. The legislature is in special session to deal with a $2 billion deficit for the current biennium, and Governor Chris Gregoire has said the state will have to make severe cuts to education and social and other programs if the legislature doesn't come up with additional revenue.

The board did approve a temporary position for Coons. The employee will be specifically tasked with entering property value data into the county's new computer system. It will be funded by the Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) fund.

Commissioners approved the part-time position for six months and said it could be renewed if necessary.

Coons said it is necessary to have the data entered in the computer database if his office is to be ready to implement an annual revaluation cycle in 2014, as required by state law.

However, the board refused the assessor's requests for funding for extra help, overtime pay and professional fees.

"I'm a mandatory department," Coons said. "Please give me what I need."

"I can't do it," Marsyla said.

"If something extraordinary comes up, come and see us," Commissioner Blair Brady said. "Every other office can make the same argument."

"It doesn't help me with the mess I have in my office," Coons said. "Please let me run my office as I see that it needs to be run."

"We can argue all day," Brady said. "He's made a request; we have not acted one way or another."

At that point, Marsyla, Brady and Commissioner Dan Cothren agreed they would keep the assessor office budget as they had proposed.

Skamokawa resident Kay Walters asked why the board was redirecting the use of parimutuel taxes, budgeted at $27,000 for 2012, away from premiums for exhibitors, and why it wasn't budgeting funds for maintaining the fairgrounds, which are county-owned.

Commissioners replied that they wanted to limit premium payments to persons age 19 years and younger, and they budgeted $7,500 for premium payments, half what was budgeted in 2011. The remainder of the parimutuel funds would be channeled into other fair expenses.

Marsyla's motion to budget $3,000 for a county contribution to the Cathlamet library drew no second.

Town officials have sought a county contribution to the library, saying that a large portion of library patrons are county residents who don't pay taxes in town.

Brady and Cothren, however, declined to make the appropriation, citing the board's philosophy of funding only absolutely necessary county services.

The board is shifting $200,000 of the County Road Department levy to cover the Current Expense Fund, which funds most departments.

The county stands to gain a $400,000 payment from the state in late spring as compensation for trust timberland that has been locked up as critical habitat for endangered marbled murrelets. The payment is part of a bill signed last year by Governor Gregoire; it applies to Wahkiakum, Pacific and Skamania counties.

However, county officials aren't counting on the money, saying the legislature could redirect it to help cover the state deficit.

The board has budgeted $240,000 for acquisition of additional timberland. Officials feel that by purchasing additional timberland, the county can come closer to obtaining the revenue it needs to operate.

Commissioner Cothren, who help draft and push the bill through legislature, added that another bill is being considered; it would allow Wahkiakum, Pacific and Skamania counties to combine in a single trust to pool their appropriations for additional timberland. That would allow larger acquisitions, Cothren said, and the county should see new revenue sooner than if it had to purchase the land on its own.

The funding also depends on the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) putting together a team to study how much land in each of the three counties' timber trust is actually encumbered by the critical habitat restrictions.

While the board budgeted $243,000 of the potential funds for timber land acquisition, another $100,000 would go to the road department to compensate for the levy shift, and the remaining $57,000 will be allocated for computer replacement and other uses.

Retired Prosecuting Attorney Fred Johnson, who is also retiring as chair of the County Emergency Services Council, urged the board to pressure the DNR for better management of the county timber trust land.

The $1.1 million budgeted as revenue from trust timber represents just a 1-2 percent return on the county's asset, he said.

"We are the aggrieved client," he said. "We need to tell them that they are the trustee of our timber and they've done a very poor job."

Cothren replied that he has been vocal with the state Board of Natural Resources and discussed the situation with Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldsmith, who has shown he understands the situation, but he's pushing for more.

"If things don't radically change, we might have to push even harder," he said. "We're putting our foot down.