Welcome to Skagit County

July 11th, 2006

CITIZENS ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON COUNTY BUDGET ISSUES REPORT TO COMMISSIONERS

SKAGIT COUNTY – The Citizens Advisory Committee on the County Budget presented its recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners yesterday. The Committee was appointed by the Skagit County’s Board of Commissioners earlier this year to review revenues and expenditures, their respective trends, and prepared a five-year forecast for the County's General Fund.

Six Skagit County citizens served on the committee, two from each Commissioner District. Representing District 1 were Keith Magee and Lyle Wesen. Don Gordon and Audrey Gravely represented District 2 and Lisa Janicki and Brock Stiles represented District 3.

The committee worked for several months with Skagit County Administrator Gary Rowe and Budget/Finance Administrator Trisha Logue to compile the report. The forecast shows that the current overspending will continue unless budget changes are made. Skagit County’s spending in the General Fund exceeded revenues by more than $4 million last year. The General Fund’s end of year fund balance has shown a steady decline from more than $8.89 million in 2003 to $4.05 million in 2005.

The committee made several recommendations in the report, including:

Adopt a balanced budget with available revenues.
Consider a levy shift of $1 million from the County Road Fund to the General Fund.
Consider setting fees associated with Planning and Development Services at a level to offset 100 percent of cost.
Set the overall budget for salaries in 2007 at no greater than 3 percent above the 2006 adopted amount.
Consider implementing a fixed amount contribution for employee medical insurance.
Consider reducing the amount of funding allocated to professional services for Planning and Development Services Department
Work with the four cities within Skagit County to share funding of regional services such as public health, parks and recreation and senior services.

“Citizen input in essential to making sound budgetary decisions,” said Skagit County Commissioner Ken Dahlstedt. “We appreciate the hard work of the committee and our staff to produce this report.”

The entire report is available here.(Pdf)

For further information, contact: Dan Berentson
Communications Director
360-419-3461