Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Whitman County commissioners approved the 2018 budget Monday, a month and a half before it was due, for a total of $64,069,000. The deadline was Dec. 31.
Last year’s budget was $64,734,129.
“Quite frankly, the reason why it was passed this early is the fact that there weren’t any major changes,” said Gary Petrovich, county administrative director.
In June, county commissioners sent a letter to each department outlining what they hoped to see. Through the summer, the departments worked on it and met with the commissioners in September.
The 2018 budget contains an additional expenditure to increase the payment to eligible employees for insurance from $695 per individual to $775 – to save on out-of-pocket healthcare spending.
The change in capped medical payments, which was made to account for rising health insurance prices, raised Whitman County general fund expenditures by $92,000.
Some of that was covered by funds not spent by departments last year.
Projected revenue is also up for next year’s budget – from $15,460,000 to $15,860,000 – attributed to an increase in sales tax proceeds and a list of smaller items.
“I think our departments by and large have people who try to understand the bigger picture and their place in it,” said Commissioner Michael Largent.
The first week of November marks the earliest a county annual budget has been passed in the 10 years Largent has been in office.
The 2018 budget also includes an increase of $50,000 for reserve funds.
“The budget is a dynamic animal and has a million moving parts,” Petrovich said.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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