08/25/2025 BOCC minutes

The Board of County Commissioners of Washington County, Idaho, does hereby meet this 25th day of August, 2025.

IN THE MATTER OF ROLL CALL)

Donna White, Clerk, called roll call: Gordon Wilkerson, present; Jim Harberd, present; and Nate Marvin, present.

Jim Harberd opened the meeting and led the Pledge of Allegiance. Gordon Wilkerson gave the invocation.

IN THE MATTER OF CORRESPONDENCE/MEETINGS AND REPORTS)

Correspondence received by the Board was reviewed and disseminated as required. Gordon Wilkerson reported that he attended a Payette Forest Coalition meeting last week.

Nate Marvin reported that he and Gordon Wilkerson attended a budget training in Canyon County last Friday. Marvin stated he didn’t believe it was an Open Meeting Law violation since there was an attorney present.

Jim Harberd moved, seconded by Gordon Wilkerson, to approve an Alcohol Beverage Catering Permit to be used at Sunnyside Events on September 13, 2025. Motion carried.

Jim Harberd moved, seconded by Gordon Wilkerson, to approve an Alcohol Beverage Catering Permit to be used at Sunnyside Events on September 20, 2025. Motion carried.

Jim Harberd moved, seconded by Gordon Wilkerson, to approve an Alcohol Beverage Catering Permit to be used at Sunnyside Events on September 26, 2025. Motion carried.

Nate Marvin moved, seconded by Gordon Wilkerson, to approve a demand warrant payable to BiMart in the amount of $29.99. Motion carried.

Nate Marvin moved, seconded by Gordon Wilkerson, to approve a demand warrant payable to BiMart in the amount of $19.99. Motion carried.

Jim Harberd moved, seconded by Gordon Wilkerson, to approve the Operation in Funds/Statement of Treasurer’s Cash for July 2025, in the amount of $18,514,383.11. Motion carried.

Jim Harberd moved, seconded by Nate Marvin, to approve a demand warrant payable to Wex Bank in the amount of $62.00. Motion carried.

IN THE MATTER OF MINUTES)

The minutes of the Board not heretofore approved of August 4, 2025, were approved as written.

The minutes of the Board not heretofore approved of August 18, 2025, were approved as written.

IN THE MATTER OF CLAIMS)

The Auditor was authorized to issue warrants totaling $286,904.37 for general expenses by a motion of Jim Harberd, seconded by Gordon Wilkerson. Motion carried unanimous.

IN THE MATTER OF BUILDING INSPECTOR)

Danny Roark, Building Inspector, met with the Board. Roark reported that one building permit was issued, no application picked up, and seven inspections were completed. Roark provided an update regarding activity in the Planning and Zoning office.

IN THE MATTER OF ROAD & BRIDGE/SOLID WASTE)

Jerod Odoms, Road and Bridge/Solid Waste Supervisor, met with the Board. Odoms reported the department assisted the Weiser Valley Highway District with chip seal last week. Odoms provided a department update to the Board.

Odoms discussed damage to the to the county dump truck. The estimated cost of repairs to the dump truck is $20,096.03.

Odoms informed the Board that the Preliminary Design paperwork for Unity Bridge has been received. The documents will be forwarded to the Board for review.

Odoms reported a large number of tires were dumped on Stagecoach Road in Midvale. Odoms stated the matter is under investigation.

Odoms informed the Board that the draft plan for Solid Waste has been received from Keller and Associates.

IN THE MATTER OF PROSECUTING ATTORNEY)

True Pearce, Prosecuting Attorney, met with the Board.

Jim Harberd moved, seconded by Gordon Wilkerson, to go into executive session at 10:01 a.m. in accordance with I.C. 74-206(1) (a & b) to consider hiring a public officer, employee, staff member or individual agent. This paragraph does not apply to filling a vacancy in an elective office, (b) to consider the evaluation, dismissal or disciplining of, or to hear complaints or charges brought against, a public officer, employee, staff

member or individual agent, or public school student; and (f) to communicate with legal counsel for the public agency to discuss the legal ramifications of and legal options for pending litigation, or controversies not yet being litigated but imminently likely to be litigated. The mere presence of legal counsel at an executive session does not satisfy this requirement. Motion carried unanimous. Gordon Wilkerson, Aye; Jim Harberd, Aye; Nate Marvin, Aye.

Jim Harberd stated they were out of executive session at 11:03 a.m. “No final action or decisions were made in executive session. We now return to our regular agenda.”

IN THE MATTER OF PLANNING AND ZONING ADMINISTRATOR INTERVIEWS)

Jim Harberd moved, seconded by Gordon Wilkerson, to go into executive session at 11:04 a.m. in accordance with I.C. 74-206(1) (a & b) to consider hiring a public officer, employee, staff member or individual agent. This paragraph does not apply to filling a vacancy in an elective office, (b) to consider the evaluation, dismissal or disciplining of, or to hear complaints or charges brought against, a public officer, employee, staff member or individual agent, or public school student; Motion carried unanimous. Gordon Wilkerson, Aye; Jim Harberd, Aye; Nate Marvin, Aye.

Jim Harberd stated they were out of executive session at 11:49 a.m. “No final action or decisions were made in executive session. We now return to our regular agenda.”

The Board discussed the September 2, 2025 Agenda.

IN THE MATTER OF AMBULANCE BUDGET HEARING)

Jim Harberd moved, seconded by Gordon Wilkerson, to recess as the Board of Washington County Commissioners and convene as the Board of the Weiser Ambulance District. Motion carried unanimous.

Donna White, Clerk, called roll call: Gordon Wilkerson, present; Jim Harberd, present; and Nate Marvin, present.

Jim Harberd opened the Public Hearing at 1:04 p.m. and read the Notice of Public Hearing on the record as follows:

The Board of Commissioners for the Weiser Ambulance District will conduct a Public Hearing concerning the Ambulance District Budget for the Fiscal Year 2026 on August 25, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. in the meeting room, Washington County Courthouse, 205 East Court Street, Weiser, Idaho for the purpose of considering and fixing a final budget and making appropriations for the Weiser Ambulance District.

Alan Foster, Ambulance District Director, met with the Board. Foster presented the proposed budget for the Ambulance District for the 2026 fiscal year to the Board. Foster

stated that at this point he assumed the budget was open to public discussion and any inquiries. Foster told the Board they were able to come down and cut nearly $200,000.00 from last year’s budget. Foster further stated that they will still have to work diligently to keep within their means throughout the next year because of the discussions that have been had regarding limited funding. Foster stated that there will be a few minor changes to the budget because of grant funding that he discussed last week of $40,000.00. Foster informed the Board that they didn’t have enough time to do a resolution to the budget to include that for the radio expenses received from the State of Idaho. Foster said that would be a change moving forward and potentially some salary adjustments or some of the expenses as far as salary and benefits because we have had one full-time paramedic resign and one full-time EMT resign. Foster stated he is trying to not fill those positions and just fill with part-time and save some money. Foster stated that may be the only changes. Foster stated that he did have copies if anybody in the public wanted to see a detailed layout of the 2026 budget. Foster asked for questions or comments.

Wilkerson stated funding seems to be the biggest concern, but it is what it is and we are dealing with it.

Foster stated he was definitely dedicated to making the best out of this. “We will make it work.”

The Board reviewed the proposed budget submitted by Foster. Foster stated it was the same copy the Board received last week.

Marvin, “I was looking for it but couldn’t find it.”

Wilkerson, “I don’t know that I have physically put my eyes on this one.” Harberd, “We have one.”

Foster, “The last couple copies have been mostly that condensed version to keep it a little more easier to read that’s in detail over everything.”

Wilkerson, “You’ve made some major cuts.” Foster, “Yes, I have.”

Wilkerson, “We’ve discussed those cuts. Is it feasible?”

Foster, “It is feasible. It is gonna definitely limit us in our coverage for the County but, um, it’s what we have to do. There’s really no other, no other way of going about it that I’ve found. And even having you guys’ insight and looking through it and Claudia’s diligence of going through it in fine detail. Um, and just hopefully we don’t have any

unexpected expenses and or injuries or anything like that. And I did not include raises for, there will be one for my current full-time paramedic just because I will redistribute

some responsibilities to him to an Operation Management position instead of a Deputy Director position but is will be very minimal.”

Marvin, “Alan, did you budget for a tax levy?”

Foster, “That is not included in that currently just because we are trying to secure that funding, there is, I did include a note, a line item in there of adjustments for funding for that, um, as we gather more information and get a better idea of just how much that is going to cost. Um, but that’s going to have to be secured through some kind of (inaudible) or sensor grant.”

Marvin, “Because you estimated..” Foster, “Anywhere for $10..”

Marvin, “the county was $10 to $15,000.00”

Foster, “It was just for the legal services. I’m hoping to keep it around that 10-thousand- dollar mark. High end of $15 thousand and then if we do a, some kind of PR Management, outside resource that could be up to another $10 thousand.”

Marvin, “Okay.”

Foster, “I kinda feel it necessary to also include, um, so the Public knows, that as the director of an Ambulance Service, this new budget reflects me working roughly a minimum of 60 hours per week. That’s 48 hours on an ambulance and then office time and time out. And there is no other director of an Ambulance Service in this State that does that.”

Marvin, “I’m sure there’s not.”

Marvin, “Alan, on your bad dept recovery.” Foster, “Um-hmm”

Marvin, “You had $4,200.00 in there for last year and then it jumped up to $6,000.00. Are you anticipating more outstand debt?”

Foster, “Um, with an Ambulance Service and fees, you will always have bad debt because of people’s inability to pay and or, um, collections per say. You know, you only collect a certain percentage and then some of that goes to the collection agency. So, um, just where in the past, what we learned that previous administration didn’t utilize um, that as they should as far as, um collections and stuff. And I understand his thought process in

doing so that it didn’t reflect negatively on the community in sending somebody to collections, but at the same time this is a business um, to play favorites per say of picking and choosing who gets to go to collections and who doesn’t based on their responsibility

of paying an Ambulance bill. Um, I’d just as soon keep it all consistent and fair to everyone. So, we may end up with a little more bad debt.”

Marvin, Now the company that’s doing our billing for us, do they do that?”

Foster, “They don’t do collections. It’s a third party from them that we pay separately to do collections.”

Marvin, “Okay.”

Harberd, “Do you have in here where that, the amount of your outstanding bad debt? Do you have a dollar figure on that?”

Foster, “Which line is that?”

Harberd, “What Nate was just asking you about on your bad debt collection where you received $4,200.00”

Foster, “Off the top of my head, I don’t recall off the top of my head.” Harberd, “A total figure of what’s outstanding out there?”

Foster, “I don’t, currently.” Wilkerson, “What I saw was a lot.”

Foster, “And unfortunately, that change, you know, as that changes because ambulance fee dues can go out to two years for actual insurance paid. Some insurance companies go to three years to finalize that payment. So, you could be looking back at two years worth of how is this going to line out. So that number is generally fairly large and by the time the end of the year, you can go back and say, okay what did we collet and what didn’t we, and what actually went into bad debt, if that makes sense.”

Wilkerson, “I’m gonna ask a question that you have probably explained to me several times.”

Foster, “Okay.”

Wilkerson, “On the beginning of the budget you’ve got Ambulance Fees.” Foster, “un huh.”

Wilkerson, “and that’s just an estimated guess at best, right?”

Foster, “Correct. Based on the average returns over the last x amount of years.” Wilkerson, “Example, last year the Ambulance fees were estimated at $735,000.00”

Foster, “Yeah, and unfortunately that was a number that should not have been used based on the previous year um, reflection of how that got, where that grant was included in our capital funds. So, instead it was added into what was estimated within ambulance fees instead of putting it as money in, money out in capital expense.”

Wilkerson, “That’s why this year is more honest.”

Foster, “Yes. One hundred percent. And that’s with the hope that Medicaid and Medicare don’t make any more cuts to the way they reimburse.”

Wilkerson, “Even with the grant funding you’re entitled to this year, it doesn’t bring that up very close?”

Foster, “It doesn’t. And as we discussed in the past, we can get grants fairly quickly for stuff and things, but to support a, actual expenses and or salaries and personnel …”

Wilkerson, “Real stuff.”

Foster, “Real stuff that’s needed, um, cuz we have the stuff we need. We have amazing, we have great ambulances, we have great equipment, um, we have a nice living quarters, a nice station for the community which we are in, it’s amazing. We do not have the support, or the funding to support the staff that’s needed. You just, unless we were, unfortunately, and not to bash on fire services, but the funding is there for, if you have fire behind you or you know, if it was a Fire EMS Service, I could dig more into funding that way. We’re just not set up that way. So, and unfortunately, that’s a nation-wide problem. Where EMS, Emergency and Ambulance Services are not, they’re not considered um, a necessary entity. Or an essential fund.”

Wilkerson, “The grant funding that was put into the budget last year on Ambulance fees, where should where should it actually have been applied in the 20 in last year’s budget in 2025? Where should you have seen it in this budget”

Foster, “Well, there wasn’t, that’s the problem because there wasn’t that grant funding last year. It was from the previous year. So, it never should have been included in any estimates at all. The grant funding that is included in this coming year is that for which the Community, that Community Paramedic Program which we received all that money through um, Federal funding through Southwest District Health. That’s roughly, I believe it’s around $89,000 for fiscal 2026. Um, so if you took that out, um, you can see that we actually was able to cut the budget by over $230,000.00.”

“I know we’re only allowed so much time for this so, do you guys have any other questions?”

Marvin, “I don’t have any.”

Chandler, “I’d like to make a point of order. Um. What we’ve done for the last half hour is have a budget workshop and this is a Public Hearing for public testimony so I would like to entertain a motion to the Commissioners to postpone the Ambulance Budget Hearing to a later date.”

Wilkerson, “We actually called for Public Testimony early on.” Commissioners, “No one came forward.”

Harberd, “Did you sign in on the sheet?” Chandler, “I did.”

Harberd, “Did you mark for testimony?” Chandler, “I did.”

Marvin and Wilkerson, “Bring him forward.” Marvin, “Come on up.”

Wilkerson, “Have a seat.” Foster, “Absolutely.”

Chandler, “We’re out of time now. So, what you’ve been doing is working on the budget not (inaudible) a public hearing.”

Harberd, “We’re discussing the budget right now.” Marvin, “We’ve got time.”

Harberd, ‘We’ve got time right now.”

Robert Bennatts, “Commissioners, neighbors, Washington County, my name is Robert Bennatts. I’m from Cambridge, Kinkaid Heights And, uh, I’ve spent a lot of time listening to the ambulance representatives over the years, and now we have a new one. And I’m seeing a continual problem we’re facing as they’ve expressed their concerns over their budget and they found themselves lacking funding. So, they can’t finish out the year in which they’re working um, and now they’re on a credit card. I think that’s kind of an emergency.

Marvin, “They’re not to a credit card yet.”

Bennatts, “Oh, we’re not good. But anyway, I’ve got 20 years’ experience in emergency services. I’m a retiree. Firefighter and EMT. And Manning is very critical. If you don’t have Manning, you can’t do the job. And to hear the guy running the outfit saying that he’s gonna have to work most of the time to cover the ends. I mean, it’s a crisis. We have a budget crisis, and we have a manning crisis, and as a retiree from the service, I know how important that is. So, that’s my strong feelings about what I’ve heard. I think the County can do better. It should be ahead of the ball on this thing. We’re talking about emergency services. So that’s my input, and I think we let the ball down. I don’t think they did. I think the county did. Thank you.”

Marvin, “Can I ask you a question?” Bennatts, “Sure.”

Marvin, “Where would you propose we get the money to, to boost the ambulance?” Bennatts, “Well, you know, you guys…”

Marvin, “Are you willing to, what are you willing to pay?”

Bennatts, “You guys are the experts. I mean, I’ve listened to you. Donna has a lot of knowledge, and where funding comes from. Nate, I know you do. Um, some of the other commissioners are just learning. Uh, maybe we’re all in a learning process but, uh, I think, I feel, as a resident here, let down that we’re not ahead of the ball on this thing, and it’s embarrassing to have these people come in and have to say, well, gosh, we’re out of money, what happened? Um, what can we do? I mean, you know the venue, the avenues to gain funding, I mean, I’ve never been on that end of the ball, and I…”

Marvin, “Unfortunately, it has to come from the taxpayer’s Bob, and I…” Bennatts, “Well..”

Marvin, “I’m not… not excited about going out to the taxpayers for an override levy, because I don’t know if we can pass it.”

Bennatts, “Well, we’ve got… we’ve got to look at what options we have. I mean, we’ve got to look at what options we have, we’ve got to line them up on the table and go for the best one. And I… no, I don’t want taxes…”

Marvin, “You do understand, we can’t take money out of… one of the other county budgets to supplement the ambulance?”

Bennatts, “I’m, you know, I’m learning that, but the thing that we’re behind the ball on it is what concerns me. That we’re behind the ball, that we should have been ahead of the game, and not leave these guys in the lurch.”

Marvin, “But when we got our audit last September, we weren’t behind. We had… We had what the auditor recommended, that we have enough money to run for 3 or 4 months in reserve. Donna provided that with me here not too long ago, but, the biggest problem, and I’m sure you’re aware of it in your field, is the people that can’t pay for their ambulance calls, and the… Medicaid doesn’t pay at all, and insurance is, they’re always wheelin’ and dealing to get a break, and so, yeah, leaves us short-handed, but…”

Bennatts, “Well, you know, I can respect that you’re defending your position, and it’s a difficult position. But I’m saying we need answers that fill the void, that make these, give these guys the funds and resources to do the job.”

Marvin, “I agree.”

Bennatts, “ So, everything should be on the table, and there should be some effort put into looking. You know, I mean, when this started, when they came in, uh, and presented the situation a couple months ago. From then on, the county should have had a little committee working on how are we gonna bridge the gap and not just put it on a credit card, I think. So, I think we need to get on the ball, we need to be on the ball, not behind the ball. So, and I know it’s a hard position, we got a lot of difficult financial situations to face here. So, I understand that, I can appreciate that but some things you just can’t let go. You’ve got to have…”

Marvin, “We’ve got to have an ambulance.” Bennatts, “We’ve got to have it. Thank you.” Marvin, “Thank you.”

Bennatts, “Any more questions?”

Chandler, “I’m Kirk Chandler, live north of Weiser. Uh, I just… the budget that Alan’s working on, you know, he’s had to deal with a lot of stuff that’s come up with the shortfalls in their services and stuff. And I think the budget that he’s got is probably as… best as it can get, and I’d compliment him on that. The only thing I would, uh, I’d like to just say, is we need to remember that the Ambulance District was organized by the County Commissioners. That’s why the County Commissioners are the Board of that ambulance, and the responsibility under state code falls on the county to provide ambulance, and that’s why it’s, was organized that way, because back when Nate and I were in high school here, the ambulance got to where it couldn’t function, and that’s why the county took it over. So, in the end, it’s gonna be the county’s responsibility to keep the ambulance going, and, you know, the ambulance is under a levy that it can’t, you know,

get out of unless it has an override, which, overrides just don’t work very good, and so, you know, I compliment Alan for what he’s trying to do, and hopefully it’ll work out, but

just remember that in the end, the County is responsible. I mean, that’s why we bought the, the house. That’s why we own the ambulance halls, because the county has taken county funds and provided that so that we could have an ambulance. And we’ve had some pretty good years where we had a pretty good reserve built up in the ambulance, it was up to over 400,000. And that’s kind of quietly went away. And so now we’re in a position where we don’t have any reserve and any way to catch up on it. So, it’s kind of fallen back on the county’s going to have to step in and put money into it somehow. So, because that’s the way this, you know, if it would have been organized as a ambulance district by the people, then it would be the Ambulance District’s problem. You know, but it is a county problem, because it is a district organized by the county commissioners. So, any questions?”

Marvin, “Thanks Kirk.”

Harberd, “Thank you. Correct me if I’m wrong, but some of this, the problems we’re having with the Ambulance District is, through the process, they found out some numbers that were not correct in the past, past 3 or 4 years, some way.”

Foster, “Unfortunately, just for clearer explanation, just unfortunately, in the digging that Claudia and I were able to do over the last, we’ve gone out to 6 years back now. And as I’ve said in previous meetings, I don’t think this was, I don’t want to place blame on anybody, or maybe it was just the knowledge base of the management at the time not understanding just in how, the importance of having such a microscope on where the money was going, what money you could truly rely on coming in, um, and going off correct numbers instead of unrealistic numbers.”

Harberd, “I’m not looking for somebody to point the finger at all, but it was brought, you brought it forward.”

Foster, “No, absolutely. So, the long and short of it is that it needed to be looked at with a fine-tooth comb, or finer, looked at more in detail, and manage it better in detail. And now we’re playing catch-up because it’s finally caught up to us where the money’s not coming in, more money’s going out.”

Marvin, “Part of the problem is, is the Tax levy changed. What year was that, Kirk? Do you remember? When they changed the tax levy on the ambulance district?”

Chandler, “I don’t remember the year.”

White, “It depended on the year it was formed.”

Chandler, “It was back, they changed it so that if you’re over 10,000, you can only do 4%, or four one hundreds’, and… If you’re under that, you can do six one hundreds’. And so,

we fell into just barely over, and so we were, we lost $100,000 almost when that happened. And that happened about the time I came in, so…”

Marvin, “They tried one time doing a levy to try to get that bump back up, and it didn’t pass, so…”

Foster, “Unfortunately, and just so the public knows, we’re at a point now that if we can’t find other resources, which they’re very limited on where they come from. When we’re, if we focus, put our eggs in one basket of having a levy of guaranteed money that comes in its gonna fall back on the community support in passing that levy. It can be the difference, it’s going to be the difference on

whether we have an ambulance service here in this district or not, and that scares the crap out of me.”

Marvin, “And we’ve talked about, you know, if we have to go away from paramedics to EMTs, and that scares me too, because…”

Foster, “Absolutely.”

Marvin, “All of us have got used to having paramedic service. In this district, and I’d hate to step back and go that way.”

Foster, “Hundred percent.” Harberd, “Anyone else?” Marvin, “Nancy?”

Nancy Grindstaff, “I was just gonna say…” Harberd, “You gotta come up here.” Marvin, “We need to be able to hear ya.”

Grindstaff, “I really don’t want to be a testifier, but the ambulance district here is the last Advanced Life Support on Highway 95 until you get to Lewiston. That goes away, then it really blanks out. And the, the history thing, it can go to .0006 because it was put in place in 1975 is when the former commissioners formed the district. That’s all I know.”

Marvin, “Okay.”

Foster, “Just to add to her, if that advanced life support service goes away here, um, your next closest is Payette County, your next closest is Malheur County, or Treasure Valley Paramedics. They have limited resources, and that’s if they’re available to help us out.

And then you’re looking at 20-to-40-minute response time. That’s life and death. Which is scary.”

Foster, “Anyone else have any comments, questions, concerns?” Karen Bailey, “I have a question, I’m sorry, Karen Bailey.” Marvin, “Can you come up to the mic, please?”

Bailey, “I’m new to this. You’ve been seeing me around, so I’m sorry if I step us backwards in learning some things, but…”

Harberd, “State your name, please.”

Bailey, “Karen Bailey. I’m a Weiserite out in District 2 by the airport. How far is your (inaudible), or where do you serve?”

Foster, “Our primary responsibility is within Weiser Ambulance District which…” Marvin, “There’s a map somewhere.”

Foster, “There’s a map somewhere.” Bailey. “Beyond the county?”

Foster, “However, we do have Advanced Life Support Rendezvous Mutual Aid Agreements with outlying agencies. That includes Cambridge, it includes Midvale. We will rendezvous with Council, um, Riggins, and we’ll help out Malheur County and Payette County if necessary, if we have the resources available.”

Bailey, “And does funding come back to you, billing-wise, when you do those things?”

Foster, “Only if we transport. If we get on that ambulance. No. If we put them in our ambulance and actually able to transport, we have a transporting fee of mileage and illness service, then, yes.”

Bailey, “So you’re you’re responding, you’re on hand, you’re available, but if you don’t move somebody, you don’t, there’s no funding.”

Foster, “Correct.”

Bailey, “Well, that’s a problem right there. Okay, and I was wondering if there’s a grant writer in the county? Because I know you’re doing… you’re doing this for your department? Yeah. Well, a grant writer for everybody. I’m just, thought I’d throw that out there. And that’s about it. Thank you.”

Harberd and Marvin, “Thank you.”

Marvin, “If there’s not any more, close the hearing.” Harberd, “Is there any more questions?”

Foster, “Thank you all for your time and support, really appreciate it.” Marvin, “Thanks Alan.”

Wilkereson, “Thank you Alan.”

Harberd, “Thank you. At this time, we will close the hearing.” Hearing closed at 1:47 p.m.

Harberd, “We will take this information under advisement and hopefully come to a

conclusion.”

Jim Harberd moved, seconded by Nate Marivn, to recess as the Board of the Weiser Ambulance District and reconvene as Board of Washington County Commissioners. Motion carried unanimous.

Donna White, Clerk, roll call:       Gordon Wilkerson, present; Jim Harberd, present; and Nate Marvin, present.

IN THE MATTER OF PUBLIC HEARING – WASHINGTON COUNTY BUDGET HEARING)

Jim Harberd read the Notic of Public Hearing on the record as follows:

Public hearing notice is hereby given that the Board of Commissioners of Washington County, Idaho, will meet on August 25th, 2025, at the hour of 1.30 p.m. at the Commissioner’s Meeting Room, 256 East Court Street, Weiser, Idaho, for the purpose of considering and fixing a final budget and making appropriations to each office, department, service agency or institution, and fund for the 2025-2026 fiscal year at which time, any taxpayer may appear and be heard upon any part or parts of said budget.

Harberd, “We have a sign-in sheet here. Where do you want to start? Kirk, did you want to speak on this?”

Chandler, “Yes.”

Harberd, “Come on up, State you name please.”

Chandler, “I’m Kirk Chandler. I live here in Weiser. So, I’ve been looking through the proposed budget, and I think there’s some issues that probably need to be explained or looked at. So, you know, the, in the workshops, there’s, there was lots of concern about the raises that were offered. And I would like to know, uh, what is the criteria for getting

a raise? Because if you go through the budget, some offices got it, some didn’t. The assessors, uh, Debbie didn’t ask for a raise but got it, uh, in her salary. There’s some of the offices that were cut a lot, so it was brought up in the workshop that if it’s a cost-of-living

raise, everybody would need to get the 3 percent. If it isn’t a cost-of-living raise,what is the criteria that gave the raises to, some of the offices got, everybody got a raise, some of them didn’t get any, some of them got cut back, the IT went from 77, he asked for 75. I mean, he was cut back to 77, the 77,900 was his previous budget amount, you know, so you go through the budget, and, uh, like, the sheriff hasn’t had a raise for 3 years. There’s deputies now that are making more than he is, you know, and so I think there’s some issues there that need to be answered. Governor Little called for a 3% cut in all government agencies in the state. Uh, when we gave the 7% raise in the county, it was because the State gave all their employees a 7% to an 11% raise, and so we went along with that and gave our, all of our county, all the county employees a 7% raise. And so, uh, in following that, when we were willing to give a raise, you know, we really ought to really look hard about whether we should give raises, or whether we should even cut budgets, uh, because the state, that’s what the state is doing. The commissioners, complimenting that there’s no raise budgeted for you guys, and that, you know, you’ve listened probably to those that testified or talked during the hearing. The other thing that I would question is, in going through the, going through the budget, uh, you know, we know that there’s pending legal charges, you know, legal expenses coming up for the county because of all the lawsuits and stuff. And there’s nowhere in the budget that that is budgeted for, and because we know that that’s coming, it shouldn’t be taken out of an emergency fund because it’s a planned expense. You made a motion to approve those expenses, and so this coming year budget should have a line item in it that is set aside for those pending legal charges, and so that’s another question I had. And, uh, in the hearing uh, in the workshop that we had the other day, it was brought up that, you know, it was too late to change the budget, it was already pretty set, and things were done, but there is, you know, time before this budget takes into effect. Donna is very smart and very capable, and I know that if you would decide that things needed to be changed in this budget, she could do that. So, because she’s very capable, uh, so I, I just would, uh, I encourage you to look at this stuff, and, and, uh, in that light, so thank you.”

Harberd, “Thank you.” Wilkerson, “Thanks Kirk.”

Harberd, “Rob, do you want to go again?”

Bennatts, “Thank you, Jim. Rob Bennattts from Cambridge again. And again, I’m pretty much a novice at all the budget stuff. So, I believe, you know, I’m learning here along with you guys. Just like with the emergency services, we’re all looking pretty old, and we want that paramedic to be available when we have the emergency. Well, I… this, uh, the financial system we have here is very involved and complicated. I can understand the burden on Donna. Finding avenues of funding for all these different things we’re supporting in the county, and making sure they’re all balanced out. We get services met

uh, that are needed. But, uh, I can’t help comparing it to, I’m also a master uh, Captain on a sailboat. And I sail my boat across the Pacific to the South Pacific. And I had to budget it and plan ahead, so I had resources to make it the whole way. Uh, so that had to be, it took years of planning and preparing for that. That’s kind of one of the comparisons I’ve

had of experience. But, um, it’s a little bit different challenge when you have a whole county to watch over. But, uh, I feel that, uh, a little let down by this budget process. I think that, uh, these department heads work very hard at keeping their budgets in line. It’s very discouraging for them to even think about not getting a raise when they anticipated a raise. But it’s even more discouraging when we see some departments get shafted, and, you know, we have reasons for that. The, the funding for that wasn’t available. Um, but I think, again, uh, we need to be ahead of those kinds of things, anticipate the eventuality of that, rather than this hopeful budget that comes from the feds. Have something else to back that up. Um, you know, again, a committee to, uh, to be ahead of it and not at the last minute, when this budget is put forth, be short, and people let down over and over again in some departments. So, it’s my honest opinion, I mean, and that’s all it is. I mean, I want you to know it. I’m paying attention. And I, I want to be helpful, I want things to go well. Uh, for you guys and the whole County. So, I’m not just trying to pick you apart, I’m just, I’m just making sure, if I can, whatever I can do that, uh, we’re doing better, if we need to. Any questions? No more taxes.”

Harberd, “Thank you. I didn’t point this out at the first of the hearing, but it’s like the last one, there’s a 3-minute time limit on your speeches, and the first two people have been just fine, so, you want to keep that in mind. Mary Beth?”

Mary Beth Schwartz, “My name is Mary Beth Schwartz, and I’m from Cambridge. First, I’d like to thank all the hardworking county officials, both elected and unelected, who have fulfilled their duties and worked diligently to assemble this budget. For those of us who have worked in business or government, we understand there are times when the money simply isn’t there to support raises. In some years, certain departments may have the funds available for raises, while others do not. It is also important to remember that every individual responsible for a budget has the duty to fully understand what their budget allows and to manage within those limits. When someone accepts a position for financial resources or a central part of the job, one of their first responsibilities should be to learn as much as possible about their budget, and how to operate effectively within it, rather than placing blame on the hardworking people who prepared it. I was very impressed with Sheriff Thomas. He chose not to take a pay raise. For himself or his staff in order to help keep the Justice Fund within budget. From the workshop discussions, it was clear that Sheriff Thomas has the county’s best interests at heart. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the prosecuting attorney or some of the commissioners who insisted on a pay increase and additional funding for the prosecutor’s office.

At one point, commissioners even suggested taking money from the sheriff’s Investigation Fund to cover the prosecutor’s raise. I find it troubling that anyone could campaign on supporting law enforcement only to later demand a raise, while the officers putting their lives on the line every day are getting no raise. Further, one commissioner incorrectly stated that prosecuting attorney did not receive a raise last year.

Commissioners need to know facts before speaking and decision making. The 2025 budget gave an increase to the PA’s salary from $96,012.80 to $99,860.80. After True took office in January, he negotiated with the county commissioners for an additional increase to $101,242, which was almost a 6% raise from the previous PA’s 2024 salary of

$96,000. That’s all I have. Thank you.” Harberd, “Thank you very much. Frank”

Frank Schwartz, “I’m Frank Schwartz from Cambridge, Idaho. Uh, first off, I want to thank all the hard-working county officials, both the elected and unelected, that performed their job and helped assemble this budget. These hardworking officials include Donna, Sabrina, Debbie, and Sheriff Thomas. Hard-working department heads include Bonnie Davis, Bonnie Brent Dowell, Jerod Odoms, and many others. It’s important to note that these county officials and employees held up their end during this budget process, and care enough about the county and taxpayers to do their jobs without complaining. Next, I want to express my disappointment in some other county elected officials during this process. Particularly, the behavior exhibited during the August 4th, 2025, budget workshop. There is absolutely no excuse for county commissioners to come unprepared to this workshop. The information was pretty much unchanged from June, so there was very little new to learn. Second, all elected officials need to learn their job responsibilities and take them seriously. The fact that our prosecuting attorney did not participate in the development of his budget and then used this August 4th workshop to blame others for him not having certain budget line items or a pay increase is entirely unacceptable. If an elected official is either incapable or unwilling to fulfill the roles and responsibilities required of their elected office, they should immediately resign. The Commissioners have a responsibility to the taxpayers of Washington County to wisely use our dollars. This includes providing oversight of the spending of the various county organizations, including the Prosecuting Attorney. Taxpayers do not support the use of our tax dollars to pursue legal action against county employees and volunteers, as is being done. We also do not support the Prosecutor pursuing outside legal opinions, such as the Holland & Hart deal without first getting the approval from the County Commissioners. And such an opinion should have been independent, not defined and controlled by the Prosecuting Attorney. Commissioner oversight of some county spending needs to improve. I generally support the proposed budget, with the exception of the proposed salary increase for the Prosecuting Attorney since none of the law enforcement is getting a pay raise. That’s all I have. Thank you.”

Harberd, “Thank you. Carolyn.”

Marvin, “Mr. Chairman, I have a comment to Franks uh, and that’s not correct, Frank, I asked for that other opinion. The other attorney’s opinion on that. That wasn’t True’s decision. I’m, I asked for that. Just want that on the record, Mr. Chairman.”

Schwartz, “Was it approved by the county commissioners in a meeting?” Marvin, “Yes.”

Schwartz, “Was the funding authorized?” Marvin. “I asked… I asked for it in a meeting.”

Schwartz, “Well, it wasn’t an independent opinion, and I found no…” Marvin, “Have you read it? Have you read it, Frank?”

Frank, “Yes, I have. Okay. Absolutely.” Marvin, “It was an independent.”

Schwartz, “No, it wasn’t. If you had somebody…” Marvin, “Mr. Chairman, can we go on?”

Wilkerson, “Mr. Chairman, there’s one other thing I would like to clarify, and that has to do with the prosecuting attorney’s budget of 2025 25 was actually $101,244 as advertised. What was taken by the, the prosecuting attorney past Was $96,012.80. But they advertised budget amount for that line was 101,244.”

Harberd, “True. You signed up” Wilkerson, “Carolyn?” Harberd, ““Oh, excuse me.”

Carolyn Kiesz, “I’ve been sitting here 5 minutes.” Harberd, “You only got 1 minute left.”

Kiesz, “Yeah, thank you, thank you, thank you, Frank. Um, Carolyn Keys, Midvale. I’m not going to talk about line items in the budget, but at the last meeting m, a lot of things struck me, one of which was I worked 90% of my working life for a global corporation. I worked very hard. I worked for a company that gave you raises, as well as pay increases. Some years, you could get pretty dang good raises if you worked really hard. I, I have a problem with regular increases for, quote, and cost ,of living when there are issues with money. I have gone, in the past 3 years at times with my company, which was a global corporation without a pay increase, because there were issues. It was an economic downturn. There were a lot of things to be considered. Had nothing to do with your… with your job, and how well you did it at the time. I don’t think that the county employees here who, who work hard should be, um, should be left out of that. I mean, honestly, I don’t think you get a raise every year for sitting in your chair. And when you have this thing that Donna brought up several times in the past, um, budget meeting about the Justice Fund and how you go through this issue every year, with it basically not having enough money, is what it sounds like, I, or being a huge problem, I think it’s time to

contact a legislator or do something to make sure that the most important offices in the county have the money to operate. Um, the prosecutor and the law enforcement, the sheriffs, they go hand in hand. Uh, we don’t want criminals to come in here because they know they’re not gonna get prosecuted, because there isn’t enough money, or they’re not going to get caught because there’s not enough sheriffs. It’s a, it’s a big issue to me, and I, I see that as being the most critical and important, um, issue of your budget, um, and I’m not at all for raises this year for county employees. I think somehow you ought to make sure that the sheriff has enough to fill that position. That his guys can get raises, guys and gals can get raises, and that the prosecutor has enough to take people and get justice for victims. Thanks.”

Marvin, “Thanks.”

Harberd, “Thanks. Okay, True.”

True Pearce, “Thank you, Commissioners, for hearing me today. Just a couple things I want to touch on just quickly about what has been said thus far. Uh, this has already been put on the record. Uh, the prosecutor’s salary was, uh, advertised, budgeted at $101,244. I have researched this extensively, and this is a salaried position, it has nothing to do with overtime or pay periods, or budgets, it’s literally, what I get paid, regardless of whether I work 1,000 hours of overtime. It’s a salaried position, and as such, you budget for that.

Uh, that position was not given the 4% increase that the entire rest of the county was offered last year, which is what we were discussing in the last meeting. Now, that being the case, that discussion and that increase that I asked for was purely on principle. As I have told most of you outside of meetings individually, I have no intention of taking that increase. I want you to donate it to the Sheriff’s salary. What you are not allowed to do here is increase the budget after you’ve published it, which is what you’ve done. So, you cannot raise taxes, and you cannot increase the bottom line on the budget, but you can move money around. The sheriff has not had a salary increase for a number of years. He has deputies that make more money than he does. And at this point in time, I would like you to take that 3% increase that you have uh, that you published in the paper for me, and assign it to his salary, uh, respectfully. Uh ,that being said, my office, who works hard, my deputy, who, uh, does much of the criminal work here in the county, and my secretaries are not getting a 3% increase. It was not offered to them. I did ask for it, and regardless of what has been said about the budget and whether I participated in that process, I did participate in that process. I was out of town on your first budget hearing.

But I met with the three of you in a separate meeting, on the record, and we went over my budget line by line, and not a single one of the things that was taken out of my budget was asked to be taken out of that budget. On top of that, I had not seen that budget prior to the open meeting violation meeting that we had, where you guys, uh, were illegally given that budget. That was the first time that I had seen that. So, I’m not here to point fingers. That meeting was corrected, it’s been cured. But, um, there’s a few things that have been said today that are just, unfortunately, not accurate. I apologize if it has not been easy for people to be informed on what the issues are. I am bound by attorney-client confidentiality, and so I’m not really allowed to defend myself on many of the

accusations that have been made in the county. Because I have a duty to you guys, you

know, you know what I know, and I’m not allowed to basically come out and tell the public what I know. So, I appreciate when you guys are willing to correct the record, uh, when it has been clearly misconstrued. Um, but once again, I also think, look, if, and I gave you this as a legal opinion, if you give a cost of living increase to some, you cannot pick and choose who to give that to. It’s not legal. If you’re giving raises, I think that the point has to be made of who and why and what sort of merit was achieved to get those. So, you certainly cannot increase the budget at this point. So, I’m not sure that you can actually give raises to everybody in the county. Maybe you give everybody in the county less. You certainly have some time to do that. Uh, you do not have to conclude this budget today. You can take into account the things that the public has given you. Idaho statute allows you to continue this hearing, uh, until the second Monday in September. I have copy of the Statute here for you guys, so you guys can go back and look at this should you wish to. Um, and move things around. I certainly would ask that you please move that 3% attached to my salary once again. Are there any questions?”

Marvin, “Nope. Thank you.” Wilkerson, “Thanks True.” Marvin, “Is that all signed up.”

Harberd, “That’s everybody that has been signed up.” White, “Do you have any questions for Department Heads?” Marvin, “Is Jerod here?”

Harberd, “Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute.”

Dan Warren, “Mr. Chairmann, I signed in. May I?”

Harberd, “You may. I’m getting a little better, I only missed one this time. State you name”

Warren, “Dan Warren, Cambridge, Idaho, um, I’m mainly here today because of what I heard, I guess on your budget workshop, um, on behalf of Donna. Donna White has served as clerk in Washington County ever since Betty Thomas, mother of Sheriff Thomas, retired from being clerk. My wife, Debbie, was employed in the clerk’s office when Donna took the reins from Betty. So, served alongside Donna for at least 7 years. Nate remembers I think, don’t you, Nate?”

Marvin, “Yes.”

Warren, “Nate and Gordon have acknowledged how good a job Donna has done as clerk, and continues to do so. Jim, being a new commissioner, is no doubt well aware of how valued Donna is as clerk in the past and present. Donna served in Payette County before

coming to Washington County so has vast experience in this financial field. It can be a highly technical job as clerk to secure funds that can easily be missed out on, or mishandled. Donna was highly esteemed in Payette County by one commissioner that was also an accountant. She was in charge of the county budget there. Each year, an outside auditor checks her clerk work, Sorry to ruin that, but here in Washington County, and she has received recognition for doing outstanding work by the auditor. One of the outstanding things Donna did when she came to be clerk in Washington County was to create the Emergency Reserve fund. Hopefully, during this budget process, you will come to appreciate more and more of the expertise and professionalism Donna has brought to the office and that she has maintained with diligence and excellence. Thank you, Commissioner Harbard, for standing firm and being a champion for and by the people of this county. I must ask Commissioners Marvin and Wilkerson how is it that you reward our new prosecuting attorney monetarily, at the last budget meeting, and show preference to True Pearce over Sheriff Matt Thomas who has served so long and so well. You don’t have to answer that right now. I have a whole lot of other questions about your decision- making, but hopefully these things are water under the bridge, and you realize the mandate of the people of Washington County at the last, at last week’s P&Z hearing.

Please give preference to Donna White, the clerk, today, as she knows what she is doing concerning the budget.”

Harberd, “Thank you Dan.

Commissioners, any questions? Or answers”

Marvin, “Well, I had a, is Jerod here? I don’t see him. Harberd, “What page are you on?”

Marvin, “Well, I’m on page 25, and he, there shows, everybody else is looking at 3%. He has 12.5. Is that a step raise?”

Wilkerson, “If you look, I think, I think it had to do with the step raise.” Marvin, “That’s what I was wondering.”

Wilkerson, “If you look at the yellow it matches.” Harberd, “Robert?”

Peterson, “Debbie Moxley is online. She would like to speak.

Marvin, “I don’t have, I don’t have Zoom up, so I don’t know how we’re gonna talk to her, unless you put her on the big screen.”

Wilkerson, “The 12.5%, I think, is if you took the Step Raise program.” Marvin, “That’s his step program.”

Wilkerson, “Look at the yellow, and it matches up. But his approved budget last year, and this year’s 3% on the gray.”

Marvin, “Okay.”

Moxley-Potter, “Mr. Chairman and Commissioners, con you hear me?” Marvin and Wilkerson, “We can.”

Moxley-Potter, “And I’m sorry, I woke up at 4 o’clock this morning sick, and I didn’t make it in. I’m sorry about that. I just wanted to let you know that I have a handout for, um, the audience, and I believe you guys already received it. I just wanted people to know, especially new people, to the State of Idaho, um, the mandated services that are not funded by the state, but are funded by property tax and the taxpayers, and I just think it’s a good list, and shows the things that, that the commissioners and the county have to provide to the people of the county.”

Marvin, “Thanks, Debbie. Did you have any other comments on that?”

Moxley-Potter, “Well, I kind of want to defend my people as well, um, my people work really hard, and I know some years we might not get raises. If we don’t get them, I’m good with that. Um, but I want to acknowledge that, like I did at the last meeting. That you have a group of people who work for the county who are honest and hardworking. And we need to appreciate them. They, it’s not always easy being in the public eye, but we, I see myself as a public servant, and I try to extend that through my staff, that we are here for the people, and I guess that’s it.”

Marvin, “Thanks.”

Harberd, “Thank you, Debbie.” Wilkerson, “Thank you, Debbie.” Harberd, “Jerod’s online.” Marvin, “Jerod, can you hear us?” Odoms, “Can you hear me now?” Commissioners, “Yes.”

Odoms, “Okay. Thank you, Robert, for letting me in. Sorry, Commissioners, I mentioned earlier today I had a conflict this afternoon with a second meeting, um, so I’ve been kind of tracking this. What was the question?”

Marvin, “We’re just on the… on the line item for salaries, it showed 12.5 increase and

11.5 increase. Is that due to step raises, Jerod?”

Odoms, “So that, that was the proposed, um, step and grade that, uh, at the last workshop, um, it sounded like that was not going to get through, and I do believe that that was adjusted by the budget officer and no longer in that line. I just don’t think the note has been taken out.”

Marvin, “Okay.”

Wilkerson, “it’s, it’s actually in the gray. The 3%.”

Marvin, “Apparently, I don’t have the most current one then.”

Harberd, “No, this one just came out. This is my new one to me. My old one is (inaudible).”

Wilkerson. “Right there to the right. The gray number is the actual 3%. The yellow number was the proposed step and grade.”

Harberd, “Yeah, that’s what I have, the new one, just like you.” Marvin, “Okay.”

Harberd, “It’s corrected.”

Marvin, “Okay, so if we use the…”

White, “That’s the one after the changes that you guys made last week.” Harberd, “Alright, it’s a change we made last meeting.”

Marvin, “Alright.”

White, “The total budget after changes that were made last week, or at the workshop, the total budget is $20,162,222.42.”

Marvin, “Okay, that’s what I have now. Okay, thank you. So that was my only question, Jerod. I guess we got it answered. Sorr to interrupt you meeting.”

Odoms, “Okay. No, that’s okay. I, uh, I wanted to be sure. So, yes, that, that was, to my knowledge, removed. Thank you.”

Marvin, “Okay, thank you. Robert?” Peterson, “Yes.”

Marvin, “Robert here?” Peterson, “Yeah, I’m right here.”

Marvin, “And your, and your budget went up $50,000. You want to explain what that was all, I know you did once.”

Peterson, “Yeah, uh, overall, it went up 4.5% in the computer line.

The, uh, information technology line, number 07, didn’t go up at all. Computer Arts, our largest um, software expense, went up 12 point, or 16.2% from last year.”

Marvin, “Okay.”

Peterson, “And overall software budget that I have in the budget currently is, went up 12.5%, just from increases, and that does not include the $20,000 that Computer Arts is gonna charge us for doing a conversion of their software.”

Marvin, “Okay.”

Peterson, “So, overall, my budget went up 2.9% for both parts. But it’s mostly because of software increases that we just have to absorb.”

Marvin, “Yeah, we don’t have no control over that. Okay, thanks, Robert.”

Wilkerson, “I’ve got a question. Page 56 of 57 of the paperwork that I have here, it states there was 94,400 moved to page 36.”

White, “Because the Social Services levy went away. I had an employee that was paid out of that fund. When the legislator did away with, the legislature did away with the levy for Social Services we have the ability to use that fund balance. We are getting to the point that we had to move it. I had an employee that was paid out of there. She also works as the Jury Commissioner, so, that employee was moved to the court fund, Jury.”

Wilkerson, “So it would be on what page? 50, 36?” White, “Yes, 36.”

Wilkerson, “I’m not, I don’t see a $94,000 increase to anything on that page.”

White, “Because all I moved was the employee wages and her benefits from Social Services to the Court Fund. We still have other things that we are obligated to pay out of the Social Services line.”

Wilkerson, “Okay.”

White, “That was discussed in our June workshop.” Marvin, “I don’t have any more questions.” Harberd, “I do not either.”

Sabrina Young, “Mr. Chairman?” Harberd, “Yes.”

Young, “I missed the, the last budget workshop as I was attending the Annual Treasurer’s Conference, so I just thought I would, uh, bring a couple things. I have some handouts for you guys and the audience. And this is just a real fast and furious, um, snapshot of County Government, where revenues come from, and where expenses go. And I obtained this this morning from Transparent Idaho’s website. Um, which is, um, the State Controllers website, uh, reporting for all taxing districts and local government districts. I included the URL for, um, your reference as well, to access the site. But I think it’s important to understand that of our county budget, only a portion of that is funded through property tax. I mean, you can see in the circular pie chart that depiction very clearly. And then we get intergovernmental affairs revenue, so we’re, we’re talking about, that’s our PILT payment, that’s our revenue sharing with our sales tax through the State, our liquor funds, um, the list is on, goes on and on and on. And you can see that’s also a large portion of our revenues for our budget. And then we have, um, also, charges for service, so that’s that gray, um, third largest piece. And that’s going to be all of our fees that we charge. Solid waste fees, um, DMV fees, any of the offices, um, Planning and Zoning, permitting fees, any of the fees that we charge, that’s additional revenue. So, I think it’s important for us to understand that property taxes is just a portion of those revenues that come into the county. Um, and I’d be happy to answer any other questions about that. Um, also, in my particular budget. Um, my time in office, I’ve worked really hard to manage that and be a good steward of county funds and the public’s money, because it is the public’s money. And I’m one of those paying taxpayers as well. Um, I

did request a 3% increase for my staff. However, we have had years where we couldn’t give that, and I can understand that. Um… So, you are the ones that make that decision, but I stand behind my office and my employees, and their ability to help um, our taxpayers. And honestly, everyone. We service clients like mortgage companies and title companies, and um, so, it, very office has an important part of making the cog of local government work and I value every piece of it. As I think we all should. Um, and you don’t necessarily spend everything that’s in your budget, because A: We have a cycle to our revenues and our expenses every year, and money comes in and out at different timings. And so, there’s always what we refer to as carryover, to help fund that next first quarter of the fiscal year. And I think that’s important to understand as well. You don’t, you don’t get to spend what, all the way down to that dollar, because otherwise you have no seed money, if you want to put it in more, like, business terms, to start the next season. Um, so I think that’s also important to understand. Um. And there are times that we have things budgeted that we go maybe years without spending any money in it. But they’re

there because it is an expense that could occur. So, I think taking funds or removing money from somewhere because it hasn’t been used in a couple years is not prudent, um, because that expense could come up. I’ve, I’ve, for myself, you know, I do litigation guarantees for the tax deed process. There’s been years where I’ve spent several thousand dollars, and I got close to that budget line, because I had a lot of parcels I had to order litigation guarantees on. And I can’t guarantee from one year to the next how many I’m gonna have. But then, we work really hard to get those numbers down, and the last few years, I’ve spent like, a third of my budget. It doesn’t mean that I mean to drop it. It’s just that’s the good work of my office. Collecting and working with the taxpayers to help them get their taxes paid to avoid that Tax Deed process and those additional costs. So, um, I just, I was really disappointed to hear some of the comments in the meeting I missed, as well as omments I received from constituents and the public, and I just wanted to take a moment to say ‘We are doing the hard work.’ And my office is always open for questions, and I’m happy to discuss budget or anything. And we do have trainings. As county elected officials, department heads, and employees. Both through our state associations and our county itself. And I just want the public to know that.”

Harberd, “Thank you.”

Wilkerson, “Thank you Sabrina. And I would like to make a comment in the fact that I have reached out to Sabrina on several occasions for help and education, and she’s always been there. And understanding. Thank you.”

Harberd, “Any other Department Heads? Anything that you’d like to share? Any further questions, Commissioners?”

Marvin, “I don’t.”

Wilkerson, “Do you have any more questions? Any more questions?” Harberd, “Me?”

Wilkerson, “Stupid questions, sorry.”

Harberd, “They probably are stupid questions, and a lot of questions. Solutions?”

Marvin, “Uh, say you closed the hearing, and then we can decide what we want to do next.”

White, “One more thing Commissioners. As I stated last time in our last meeting. I don’t know what your intentions are, whatever you do, that’s fine. But I will say this; if you reduce your budget and reduce those lines, you give up levy authority. And what that means is it will take time, and I can’t tell you how much, but if you reduce that budget and give up levy authority, it will take you more than one year to get back up to the funding you need. So, you have discussed where the Justice Fund is behind. It has been behind ever since I went to work, not just in Washington County, but ever since I have

gone to work for county government. The Justice Fund is a very large fund within our county budget, and it takes a lot of money to fund that. The jail is required. They have to have hot water on demand. You can’t just have a water heater that takes minutes. As you know, you just purchased a new water heater for the jail. All of those things are expensive. They have to have a balanced diet. It’s, the Justice Fund is just an expensive um, part of the county-wide budget. Vehicles, transportation, all of those things come into play. So, I would caution you that if you decide to reduce that budget, which is a balanced budget before you. The county and the taxpayers will, for lack of a better term, pay for that for years to come.”

Harberd, “Yes?”

Dave Springer, “May I speak? I didn’t check the box.” Unknown, “Come on up.”

Springer, “My name is Dave Springer. I, uh, live in Midvale. Um, and I don’t envy you gentlemen sitting back there. I spent some time behind that dais myself. Uh, and I, I think some institutional memory needs to be presented to you today, and I’m too old to do anything but be a historian. But, uh, I think you need to pay very close attention to what Donna has to say pertaining to this budget. Uh, my wife works very close to, with her, on another taxing district within the county. Um, and I, my first experience in county government started in 1999, and the biggest issue there was the Y2K scare. We were all afraid that the world was going to stop turning because of the computer system once the, we rolled over into the new millennium. You gentlemen have a lot more on your plate than we did at that time. Uh, one other thing I would like to suggest, I know it sounds off the wall, maybe it’s no longer legal, I don’t know. It’s something for you to consider. But a wise County Clerk years ago, before my tenure uh, had an issue with the employees getting a raise and the way that was resolved was we now come to work at the courthouse at 8.30, when it used to start at 8 o’clock. Maybe that’s a suggestion, that’s just a suggestion. Maybe you need to reduce the hours the employees work. I know that enters into the Justice Fund because those people, the sheriff’s office in particular, Uh, they’re on call 24 hours a day. They, you can’t reduce their hours, but the Justice Fund has always been against the levy. Bumping up against the levy for decades, gentlemen. And it’s always been an issue. I know it, I know it’s a tough issue to solve, but uh, it’s always something that you’ve got to figure out. So, thank you for your time.”

Harberd, “Thanks, Dave.”

Young, “Can I do just a follow-up?”

Harberd, “Just a second. Matt, would you care to share anything?”

Thomas, “I don’t know if I had a whole lot to say. I do agree with Donna, I mean, if you start lowering, lowering the budget, and you take away from our loving authority, it is going to affect us later down the road. Nate probably knows that. Um, as far as True,

wanting give me the raise, I appreciate that, but I’d rather see it go back into Emergency Funds so it can be used later down the road, because… I’m really concerned with, not this budget that we’re working on, but the budgets down the road. We got large legal bills to pay. Attorneys to pay and that’s gotta come out of somewhere. It’s gonna come out of the reserves. So, I just would hope that you would be fiscally responsible with what money we spend, and where we spend it from. That’s all I have to say. Unless you have some for me.”

Marvin, “Thanks Matt.” Wilkerson, “Not at this time.” Harberd, “Thank you. Sabrina.”

Young, “Just a real quick follow-up on the justice levy, because you’ve heard over and over again, it’s been an issue for decades. Um, also the challenges of that levy cap limit in Statute. It is a known issue, and in fact, the local elected officials throughout the State have spoke to legislators year after year, and IAC, the Idaho Association of Counties, has lobbied for a change in that justice levy, so I just wanted to make sure that got on the record today, that people knew that. That we are fighting for our Justice Fund levy to be changed, but it’s,it’s an uphill battle, and it hasn’t occurred yet, but it’s not for lack of trying.”

Harberd, “Thank you.”

Marvin, “Question for Donna. Donna, in the training that I went to last Friday, Canyon County pays their prosecutor out of the Current Expense. Is that a possibility for us to get some more money into that Justice Fund?”

White, “Some counties don’t have a Justice Fund. Some have, they’re basically, their justice fund and their current expense is one. This county was set up to have both the Justice Fund and a Current Expense, and if you change it, and, or if you combine it, then it changes the levy rate.”

Harberd, “I didn’t hear that last part.”

White, “If you, if you do change it or combine them, then it changes the levy rate.” Wilkereson, “To help it?”

White, “No.”

Young, “We would be more restricted, because statutorily, it would, you would still be held to a cap. And now you’re moving away from two separate caps into one cap. So, it would have an adverse effect.

Wilkerson, “To separate them?” Young, “No, they are separated now.” White, “They’re separated now.” Young, “To combine them.”

White, “It would have an adverse effect.”

Harberd, “It would have an adverse effect, or would it just spread the deficit across the wider area?”

Young, “We would lose some levying authority.” Harberd, “Okay. Any other questions?”

Marvin, “Yeah, I have another question. I’m not done yet. Um… We’ve talked about if we don’t give a 3% due to different situations. Matt chose not to take it for his department. Trues give his back. Commissioners aren’t taking it. If, if we backed up and looked at

1% or a 2% for everybody would we still be within that budget? I know you don’t know that off.”

White, “You would still be giving up levy authority.” Marvin, “You’re still giving up levy authority?”

White, “Um-hmm. At the end of the day, you’re gonna levy for less money.” Marvin, “There’s no easy solutions.”

Harberd, “Nope. Yes?”

Unknown speaker, “So, if you don’t take…”

Marvin, “You need to cut them up here to the mic, please.”

Unknown speaker, “Sorry, I was trying to speak up and avoid that. So, this whole levy authority, I’m understanding more about the governmental process and the income and so on, income streams. Thank you for being so patient with all of us that are taking your time. Um, but if you move the money from, from giving raises which also increases all your benefits, a lot of your benefits, maybe not all of them. And just put them into expenses that are needed to, to work a day, work a day that would still leave you with that

expense, but not long-term expenses, and not the additional benefits. It could reduce some of that. Is that going to change a levy?”

White, “It’s not gonna change it for the Justice Fund which is the fund in question. It’s just, there’s no…”

Unknown Speaker, “Correct. Correct, you and Donna, thank you for all your hard work. So, that’s just a thought. I’m just throwing it out there.”

Harberd, “Kirk.”

Chandler, “I just have one thing that’s been brought up a couple times of the pending legal fees, and there’s no line item for that, so, you could take the 3% increases in the general fund., and put it in a new line item for litigation, and still be levying the same amount of money in that fund. I mean, we’ve kind of got the Justice Fund and the General Fund levy, you know, they are two different fund levies and so, if you levied the same amount and just took the money that was going into all the 3% raises in the general fund then it would, it could go into a, a litigation fund and it would still be the same amount of money. And then I just have one comment on the Budget Total sheet, it shows that there is a 3% increase in this budget, so, uh, you know, that is being levied for.

And because that is allowed, and that pushes the levy up 3% and so, those 3% increases in wage could go into another line item without changing the total amount, and it would put money in for future or, you know, impending Uh, law costs.”

Marvin, “Thank you.”

White, “There are several other funds besides the Justice Funding currently expense that have wages and benefits in them.”

Harberd, “More questions?”

Marvin, “Bonnie had her hand up a minute ago.”

Davis, “Sorry, my leg went to sleep. I don’t want anybody to be offended by this, because it is a public hearing. But I’ve sat through a day or two of these and I kind of feel like the employees are exposed right now with the wages being talked about. Not the 3%, public input is welcome, always. I don’t want you folks to get the wrong idea. But as our supervisors or your peers, or whatever the case may be, I kind of feel that that’s something that you guys should do after we all leave.”

Wilkerson, “Executive session.”

Davis, “I didn’t say that, but maybe. I mean, it seems like this is just drawing it out, and I know there’s no, hard, there’s no easy fix. We know about the 3%, we know everyone’s doing the best they can, and it takes us all to make this county work. I think the one thing

we have to remember, and I’ve said this before, we are a team. And if we don’t all work together, we know what’ll happen. Okay, we’re all in it here to serve the people to the best of our ability, and to the best of our resources. And I think that’s why there’s quite a few of us that have been here a day or two. You know, because we do enjoy serving the people. That’s all I have to say, thank you.”

Harberd, “So, as a Commissioner, a Freshman Commissioner, there’s no way out of this situation that I see. The employees, if we give them their 3%, they’re happy.”

Marvin, “Some of them.”

Harberd, “Some of them. Well, some of them will never be happy.” Marvin, “Some of them are not getting a 3%.”

Harberd,”Yeah, that’s right. Some of them are not. They’ll want 6%. No, what I’m getting at is, and I understand it with the cost of living and everything, especially if you have children at home. You’re raising kids, you’re raising your family, it’s tough. I know it is. So, we’ll give those folks, the ones that are gonna get it. We’ll go ahead and give that to them. This is just speaking. And uh, our heads will be on the gallows, as far as the commissioners go, for giving money away that the rest of the people felt should not be given away or, you know, through their bonuses. I worked a long time my whole life and I never got any kind of raise or bonus. I worked for myself. Maybe that was the problem. But anyway, it’s only human nature for people, in my opinion, strictly, that bonuses should not be depended on. It’s just like a Christmas bonus. You get a Christmas bonus one year, and you got $3,000. Boy, that was good next year. I’ll probably get 4 or

5.Maybe it goes on a few years, and then all of a sudden, the company says, hey, we’re in a bad way, sorry. There’s not gonna be any bonuses this year. And then everybody’s apple cart has been upset over the whole deal. So, I understand where everybody’s coming from. Totally. I’d like to try to fix it some way. And apparently it’s not real possible on the Justice Fund there, so it isn’t up against the rails all the time.

I’ve got a lot to learn. So, that’s all I have.”

Marvin, “Okay, I would close, close the hearing, and then we…” Wilkerson, “Well, there’s one more thing.”

Marvin, “We could keep talking, we just close the hearing.” Wilkerson, “Okay.”

Marvin, “Yeah, we can keep talking.”

Harberd, “At this time we will close the hearing. I’d like to thank everyone for coming and giving us your input. Try to work through this. We will work through this.”

Hearing closed at 2:53 p.m.

Marvin, “Put this on the agenda for next Monday or next Tuesday?”

Wilkerson, “There’s one thing that I have missed out on. Probably my fault. But I don’t have, do you have all the information on the, uh, estimated income coming in?”

Marvin, “I went up with, and got with Donna this morning, everything’s in the newspaper that we have.”

The Board discussed county revenues and uses of those funds. White stated that revenue reports can be provided.

Young stated that she could provide information on training provided by the Idaho Association of Counties and the State tax Commission that would include County Revenue Sources. Young further stated that she could provide information on statutorial sections and eligible uses of funds.

Marvin, “Well, and I think, we received a document at our training Friday, that I thought might be helpful ,but Donna says it’s not the format or the software program that she uses, so she’d have to redo her whole program. But I would like to, before we get to next June’s budget, I would like to work with Donna and Sabrina and try to get some documents where we have the information in front of us, so we can make educated decisions on this stuff. It’s not going to happen now, we’re too late for this year, but I think if we all work together, we can come up with the documents that we need to make good decisions.”

Harberd, “Anything else?”

Pearce, “Gentlemen, if you’re going to do this next Tuesday, you need to make a motion to continue this next Tuesday.it needs to a be a continuance.”

Harberd, “Okay.”

Wilkerson, “Our agenda ends when? We need to set a time to start this again.” Marvin, “Well, the hearing’s over. But we have to decide on this, vote on this budget.” Pearce, “Right, the public comment parts over with what you guys closed.”

Marvin, “Yeah.”

Pearce, “You need to continue this hearing that you’re having about statutorily, and you need to have concluded before the second Monday in September.”

Wilkereson, “As a hearing?” Pearce, “Yes.”

White, “You have to approve the budget by next Tuesday.” Wilkerson, “Right.”

Harberd, “By next Tuesday?”

Pearce, “Statutorily, you have to approve it by the Monday after (Inaudible).

Wilkerson, “The second. September 2nd. Next week. We need to put it on the agenda. What time? 1 o’clock? 1.30?”

Pearce, “Excuse me, let’s correct the record, if I may have a moment, Commissioner. This is what it says. This is the statute. It’s 31-1605, that’s what I gave the public earlier. It says, on or before the Tuesday following the first Monday in September of each year, the Board of County Commissioners shall meet at the time and place designated and said notice. That is the meeting you’re having right now. Any taxpayer may appear and be heard upon any part or parts of said tentative budget. Such hearing may be continued from day to day, which is why I’m telling you, you need to continue it, but must be concluded by the second Monday in September. Is when you have to have concluded this meeting. At the end, upon conclusion of such hearing, the County Commissioner shall fix and determine the amount of the budget. Which in no event shall be greater than the amount of the tentative budget, or include an amount to be raised from property taxes greater than the amount advertised and by resolution, adopt the budget and enter said resolution on the official minutes of the Board. So you have to have adopted this budget by the second Monday in September. Any questions?”

Marvin, “We just need to pick a time.”

Wilkerson, “When does our meeting end next Tuesday? Well, we’re gonna go till 11 o’clock with our Prosecuted Attorney, so…”

Marvin, “So I would say 1 or 1:30 to do the continuance. So I would make a motion that we continue this, uh, hearing until Monday, September 2nd at 1.30 in the afternoon.

Tuesday the 2nd, sorry. Correction. Tuesday, September 2nd at 1.30 In the commissioner’s room.”

Wilkerson, “Second.” Motion carried.

Motion by Nate Marvin, seconded by Gordon Wilkerson, and unanimously carried to recess at 3:02 p.m. until September 2, 2025, at 8:45 a.m.

Chairman, Board of County Commissioners

ATTEST:

Clerk

A full audio recording of the Commissioner Meeting is available at the Clerk’s Office upon request.