Commissioners approve 2016 Adams County budget

On Monday, Dec. 21, the Board of Adams County Commissioners approved the Adams County budget for the 2016 fiscal year.

County Commissioner John Marshall stated, “The biggest change dollar-wise was not in the amount we have to operate on but in the amount requested.”

Within the Current Expense budget there is a total appropriation of $7,847,919 for Adams County in 2016. This includes a reserve fund of $1,050,000 and a non-departmental fund of $1,169,520.

The county has included capital outlay funds for the next year for many of the departments which will help to acquire, maintain and upgrade capital assists.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) is always one department the commissioners have to discuss each year as they operate solely from the Current Expense fund of the county.

Sheriff Dale Wagner entered into the position in September and had to take over a budget created by former Sheriff John Hunt.

Wagner entered into discussion with the commissioners trying to ensure his department would have everything they need.

One of the largest changes to the department’s budget occurred prior to Wagner swearing in. Hunt advised the board he would not be able to staff community events such as the Wheat Land Communities’ Fair or the Lind Combine Derby due to budget restrictions.

The commissioners agreed in the interest of all of the community events and the participants they would like the same levels of staffing and approved an additional $20,000.

When the board received all of the requests they totaled $1.5 million over their estimated revenue. Half of this came in the form of line item requests from the ACSO.

The total budget for Police Operations in 2016 is set at $1,792,646 with $1,505,946 of this set aside for personnel.

The Public Works Department is another major department the commissioners must review. Their department is funded mostly outside of the current expense budget.

This year they added in funds to have an additional traffic deputy with the salary coming from Public Works. The board researched the decision to ensure they would be funding the law enforcement at the correct level and chose to approve this addition.

Within the Current Expense budget multiple departments saw increases in their operating expenses line item. Superior Court, Ritzville District Court and Othello District Court all had increases of $20,000, $5,000 and $3,000 respectively.

Police Operations also reported a $22,000 operating expense increase from the previous year along with Care and Custody who received a $30,000 increase.

In the Adams County Capital Outlay Projects fund an additional $492,610 was added. This amount will be for projects occurring at county buildings over the next year. A portion of the project includes the floors being redone in the Courthouse.

The Juvenile Department saw the decline of a personnel position for the next year.

This position had been funded by a grant in the past and this grant amount slowly declined over the years until it was only covering a fourth of the positions pay.

In the Othello area there are multiple at risk youth programs fully funded by local donations. This year the board saw a request from them for additional funds, which they were unable to grant.

This was the first year Stephen McFadden was with the Economic Development department and they saw a lot accomplished and see a great future.

For the Adams County Fair the commissioners have set aside $175,742, which includes personnel for the event as well as operation expenses.

The Intergovernmental Services Funds will hold a total of $3,465,167 in costs for the next year as well in the form of personnel, operational expenses and capital outlay.

There will be $174,002 spent on the improvement of public facilities as well, with $3,000 of that in capital outlay.

The Board has negotiated a contract with the City of Othello to do their building construction inspection, which will help to fund the Building and Planning department, which is currently budgeted at $265,011.

The commissioners plan to continue working on projects they have begun and are very pleased with the work of the ACSO and the Public Works Department.

The County Roads will see $10,875,175 appropriated for the next year, which includes a reserve fund, personnel wages, operational expenses and capital outlay.

There are negotiations for a new contract with the Courthouse employees as well as the Sheriff’s Department that will happen in the next year and the commissioners look forward to this running smoothly.

The Grand Total for the county’s funds for the next year is $30,635,219 and this includes Current Expenses and the other funds category for those departments, which budget outside of Current Expense. These other funds total $22,591,000.

There was a total revenue of $45,407,763 from the 2015 year and the commissioners were able to appropriate the $30,635,219 to accommodate requests from departments for their budgets.