Commissioners adopt FY 2006/2007 budget

Clearwater County Commissioners formally adopted the Fiscal Year 2006/2007 Budget during their regular session Sept. 5.

Auditor/Clerk Robin Christensen presented an overview of the proposed budget which had been published and the hearing was advertised. No one from the public attended the hearing and no one from the public questioned the commissioners about the budget.

The Current Expense is $1,778,904 is with the total budget being $9,504,191. The budget is up by 5 percent from the 2005/2006 budget of $9,026,927. The three percent levy amount will be used for normal property taxes on the net taxable value. There is actually $9,141,508.00 in the new construction value. The county is anticipating $2,181,468 in taxes for the budget. There was a 2 percent raise and longevity raise given to county employees. The commissioners said they wanted to show the employees they are appreciated and recognizes that everyone made sacrifices to make the raises happen.

A hearing was also held to formally adopt the Fiscal Year 2006/2007 Budget for the Ambulance Department. Christensen and Ambulance Director Les Eaves were in attendance. There are no members of the public present. The budget was also published in accordance to Idaho Law. The budget for Fiscal Year 2006/2007 for the Ambulance District is a total of $392,327. The ambulance employees will receive the two percent salary increase also. Chair commended the hard work of the ambulance services employees and dedication of the advisory board. The commissioners approved the Ambulance Budget for Fiscal Year 2006/2007 as presented.

Doug Gober, North Fork District Ranger of Clearwater National Forest (CNF), presented an update on wildfires on the district. There are Wildland Fire Use (WFU) fires burning now but no new prescribed fires have been lit. There are no suppression fires on the CNF. The Nez Perce National Forest (NPF) has several large suppression fires. There have been 105 fires on CNF and NPF has had 165 fires this season.

There are several active fires for managing vegetation for habitat improvement. The Barr Creek fire is at 1,550 acres, Hansen Meadows at 125 acres, Slide Creek at 1,200 acres and Sled Creek at 650 acres. This should improve the summer range vegetation for elk habitat management, he said.

Angela Vander Pas reported on the technology/networking department. HP sent notice that maintenance has ran out for the plotter and they have made an offer to change out the machine. This is includes an offer to trade back in the machine for a new plotter. They will allow $3,500 credit on a new $10,000 machine. There was discussion on replacing the six year old plotter. This offer is for a limited time. HP is not providing support for the model. The consensus is to use the machine until a replacement can be purchased.

Christensen joined in the discussion on the Computer Arts Inc. contract for next fiscal year. The cost is $29,739.13 for various program maintenance. In addition, the Sheriff's office software is $12,410. Another contract for PC and network support agreement was discussed. CAI is listing $55 through $85 per hour for a guaranteed hourly rate and projects using 51 hours. The county has not used over 20 hours this fiscal year. The consensus was not to sign the prepaid service hours for PC support. The commissioners approved signing the annual maintenance contracts.

Sheriff Alan Hengen and Chief Deputy Chris Goetz reported on their department. They reviewed search and rescue incidents. Christensen reviewed payroll questions for the end of this fiscal year. The carryover amounts for "A" budget are approximately $15,000 higher than what was anticipated. Hengen asked to pay approximately 40 hours of comp time on department employees that have accrued over 100 hours. The consensus of the commissioners is to allow the Sheriff's Department to pay some of the comp time down as long as the department employees work on lowering the accrued comp time.

Planning and Zoning Administrator TJ Rausch reported the agenda for the P&Z Commission hearing in September is full. The public hearing for the subdivision ordinance amendment on the record of survey will be rescheduled until a week later in September.

Road and Bridge Supervisor Rob Simon reported that various county roads are being graded and ditch cleaning taking place. Mason Butte Rd. was bladed last week, but it should be watered and graded at a later time. The road department has worked on the road three times this summer but the truck traffic is still high. The road crew is doing some work in the area again to improve some widening and surface work. The county roads that have been bladed are Gilbert, Grangemont, Lower Fords and Mason Butte. Nez Perce County will do the striping on Grangemont, Dent and Cavendish during the week of Sept. 11.

Carol Thomas, Juvenile Services director, presented a review of the department happenings. Alana Curtis started back today as juvenile probation officer.

Commissioners approved cancelling tax equal to the Homeowners Exemption on value on RP36NO2E101260A and RP00500002005A for 2006.

Four executive sessions were held to discuss personnel, litigation and indigent issues. All three commissioner were in attendance.