County commissioners pass a new budget by one vote during a contentious discussion

The Washington County Commissioners on Tuesday approved new budgets for Fiscal Year 2025 — just.

After some occasionally heated discussion, the commissioners voted 3-2 to approve an FY 2025 operating budget of more than $368 million and a capital budget totaling $65.8 million. Commissioners' President John Barr and Commissioner Wayne Keefer voted against approval.

The issue for Barr and Keefer was that revenue projections for the county have proven lower than actual income for the past few years, which means the county posts income that is higher than budgeted once the yearly audit is complete. But at that point, according to CFO Kelcee Mace, that money can only be used for capital projects, per county policy.

And they had one more issue: What was the point of having a public hearing on the budget if the commissioners were unwilling to make changes as a result of what the people said?

Will revenues exceed what's budgeted — again?

Keefer has argued before that the way the county predicts its revenues should be adjusted, and Barr alluded to that idea during a Herald-Mail interview after last week's public hearing on the budget.

Barr said then that he wanted to give more money to the Washington County Board of Education, the capital budget and the Commission on Aging, and that he believed the revenue would be there.

Income related to COVID relief has affected projected revenues in past years, but Keefer believes projections are still too conservative.

"Our revenues seem to be historically projected far under where they actually come in," Keefer said Tuesday, "and I would be interested in making an adjustment for both the Commission on Aging and the Board of Ed. Maybe not the full amount they're requesting, but some additional … any interest from my fellow commissioners?

Commissioner Randy Wagner he was "not interested at this time," citing earlier comments from Tom Thorsen, a member of the Commission on Aging's advisory council urging the commissioners to "hold your ground on additional funding until every avenue to reduce costs is explored."

Thorsen had suggested the COA and the Community Action Council look at ways to collaborate on their efforts and reduce costs.

What's a disparity grant, why do we need it and why don't we get as much as we used to?

'I'm treading cautiously'

Wagner said he realizes costs are rising in a number of areas, but he did not want to make changes, or, as some have suggested, raise the local income tax at this point. He reminded the other commissioners that none of the county's departments had gotten all the money they'd asked for in the budget.

"Maybe I am the bad guy here, I don't know," he said, "but I'm treading cautiously."

"Randy, I agree that more collaboration would be good," Keefer replied. "If only we can get over that bad lunch you had," he said, referring to a lunch meeting last year where officials from the Commission on Aging took the commissioners to task over funding.

"It's not about a bad lunch," Wagner said. "I'm a 73-year-old person, Wayne, and let me tell you something; maybe we ought to get over promises we make."

"I'm the youngest person on this board and I'm advocating for senior citizens," Keefer said.

"Well, you'll get wiser when you're 73, and look at it a little better," Wagner replied.

In the end, Wagner, Commissioners Jeff Cline and Derek Harvey voted for the budget. When Barr joined Keefer in voting against it, Wagner wanted to know why.

"I just want to hear your remarks on it," Wagner said.

Barr said he voted against the budget for "a number of reasons," mainly that there were a number of needs in the community but "we're not willing to help ourselves" by adjusting the income tax rate.

"I've said this before publicly — we need to reinstate the income tax (rate) back to the 3.2(%) where it was before it was cut over the last administration."

Wagner noted, again, that the prior board of commissioners had raised the income tax rate to pay for emergency services needs. "We did that in good faith and then it was voted against and then it was set back down," he said, "so you can use that as an argument, too — nothing's forever."

Wagner said he was "willing to take a peek at this later. I'm not gonna do it right now."

Residents raise concerns about schools and seniors during county budget hearing

An opportunity squandered?

But Barr said despite needs in the community, "we've squandered the disparity grant opportunities (grants from the state that are calculated on the basis of income-tax rates for less-affluent counties), and you might say that's seasonal; it's not always guaranteed. But there's no doubt about the last three years where the disparity grant was not maximized to its potential for our community.

"We talk here about come the first of September, when the budget is adjusted, and when there is general needs at the school board — whatever funds that we may have come Sept. 1 can only be used for one-time capital projects," Barr said, and can't be added to the schools' operating budget for salaries or other costs.

Keefer pointed out that for several years Washington County has posted revenues that have outpaced its budget by more than 15% to 24% — but that excess can not be used for operational expenses.

Schools, roads, projects cost a lot. County officials disagree over how to pay for them

Why have a public budget hearing?

The public hearing on this FY 2025 budgets was conducted last week. But Harvey suggested Tuesday that it was too late to talk about new options on the day the commissioners were voting to approve the budget.

Wagner agreed. "We have presented that budget weeks ago, and no one said a word," he said. "now suddenly nobody wants to vote for it."

"You're saying I've not spoken a word about underfunding …" Keefer objected.

"In the last presentation to take it to public hearing, did you say a word? No," Wagner replied. "Go back to the minutes and look."

"But you're saying I haven't spoken a word until today about underfunding," Keefer said. "I've been talking about this for over a year now … last year I spoke about this too, under-budgeting our revenue … I have been talking about it for quite a while now, Randy."

"We had a chance, as a group of commissioners, to talk to Kelcee when that budget was presented two weeks ago, whatever it was," Wagner said.

"Randy, what you're saying is once we get a budget wrapped up and ready for the public to comment on it, we're not listening to the public because it's already decided," Keefer said. "So why have a public budget hearing?"

At that point, Cline chided Keefer for not having presented a plan for adding money to the school board's and Commission on Aging's allocations. "Where's the money coming from, who you're cutting, what roads won't you pave …"

"Mr. Cline, do not put those words in my mouth," Keefer said. "I never said anything about cutting."

"You're always commenting that you're getting information from staff," Cline continued; "you're selectively embellishing this information to prove your point."

"This isn't my information," Keefer said.

"You should have, over a month ago, worked with us one-on-one and come up with your plan, how it's going to be funded," Cline said. "You admit you've been with staff all the time getting information. So why didn't you present information to us to persuade …"

"You won't give me the time of day when I mention the Commission on Aging," Keefer replied.

And at that point, Barr stepped in to rein in the discussion.

"I've called for a vote," he said, "the vote is three to two."

There was one adjustment to the budget, however. Before the final vote was taken, the commissioners agreed to reduce the General Fund contribution to the capital budget by nearly $1 million to pay for unanticipated costs for a medical services contract for the Washington County Detention Center.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Commissioners approve FY 2025 budget by a vote of 3-2