09/02/2025 BOCC minutes

The Board of County Commissioners of Washington County, Idaho, does hereby meet this 2nd day of September, 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 Gordon Wilkerson led the Pledge of Allegiance. Nate Marvin gave the invocation.

IN THE MATTER OF CORRESPONDENCE/MEETINGS AND REPORTS)

Correspondence received by the Board was reviewed and disseminated as required.

The Board reviewed the following: an email from Steve Dale regarding his opportunity to interview with the Board, a letter from Cecelia Sachtjen regarding the process of the Public Hearing held August 21, 2025 at the Vendome, and a Notice of Public Hearing from the City of Weiser regarding a Conditional Use Permit to place townhouse on property located on the corner of East Liberty and East 11th Street, Weiser, Idaho.

Nate Marvin reported he talked with Sandra McKee with the City of Cambridge regarding scheduling a Public Hearing regarding the City of Cambridge Impact Area.

Nate Marvin moved, seconded by Gordon Wilkerson, to approve the Certificate of Residency for Jazmin Juarez. Motion carried.

Nate Marvin moved, seconded by Gordon Wilkerson, to approve a Certificate of Residency for Angel Garcia Molina. Motion carried.

Gordon Wilkerson moved, seconded by Nate Marvin, to approve the signing of the Rural Idaho Economic Development Professional Grant Agreement between the Idaho Department of Commerce and Washington County. Motion carried.

Jim Harberd moved, seconded by Gordon Wilkerson, to approve Retail Alcohol Beverage License No. 37 for Just Us LLC, doing business as Smokin Franny’s BBQ. Motion carried.

Nate Marvin discussed the America 250 Celebration.

Sabrina Young, Treasurer, reported that the matter was discussed at the Annual Treasurer’s Conference in August. Young reported that she had the ability to sign up Ambassadors for the event as a coordinator.

IN THE MATTER OF MINUTES)

The minutes of the Board not heretofore approved of August 25, 2025, were approved as written.

The minutes of the Board not heretofore approved of August 27, 2025, were approved as written.

The minutes of the Board not heretofore approved of August 12, 2025, were approved as written.

IN THE MATTER OF ROAD & BRIDGE/SOLID WASTE)

Jerod Odoms, Road and Bridge/Solid Waste Supervisor, met with the Board. Odoms presented an application submitted by Idaho Power.

Jim Harberd moved, seconded by Gordon Wilkerson, to approve the Application for Buried Cable or Pipe Line submitted by Idaho Power to upgrade a power pole on Krause Road. Motion carried.

Odoms inquired if the Board had reviewed the Preliminary Design Plans for Unity Bridge. The Board stated they were unable to open the documentation.

Odoms provided a department update to the Board.

IN THE MATTER OFF HIRE OF FLOOD PLAIN ADMINISTRATOR)

Mark Ellingson met with the Board. Ellingson requested the Board hire a Flood Plain Administrator as he has documents that require a signature of the Administrator. There was discussion of possibly having the State Flood Plain Administrator sign the Loma Letter.

Debbie Moxley-Potter suggested the Board contact Dave Loos with the City of Weiser on the matter.

IN THE MATTER OF ELECTED OFFICIALS AND DEPARTMENT HEADS)

Debbie Moxley-Potter, Assessor, informed the Board that DMV and Driver’s License offices are down Statewide. Moxley-Potter stated Dave Loos had assisted the County before on Planning and Zoning matters.

Tyler O’Donnell, Extension Educator, discussed Extension Trends for 2024 with the Board. Direct Teaching Contacts, funding and other items were addressed in the document.

Bonnie Davis, Weed Superintendent, informed the Board the flooring installation at the Weed Department is near completion. Davis stated the Rodent and Weed Board meetings will be held next week. Davis provided a department update to the Board.

Johnny Biddinger, Emergency Manager, stated he is currently working with the fire departments on the Community Wildfire Protection Plan regarding available grant funding through the Idaho Department of Lands.

Donna White, Clerk, clarified that the statement made by Commissioner Marvin at the August 25th Budget Hearing regarding the software program the County uses and White having to “redo the whole program” was inaccurate. White stated the County uses the Computer Art/Harris of Idaho software program. White further stated that several counties in Idaho use the same program and that she does not have the ability to “redo” any part of the program. Washington County has a Software Agreement in place with Computer Arts/Harris of Idaho.

Marvin inquired on an email he received regarding plat maps. Moxley-Potter stated that information came from a vendor at a conference. She had not contacted the vendor requesting service.

IN THE MATTER OF AMBULANCE)

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.

Claudia Licht, Administrative Assistant, met with the Board. Order No. 25-46 for payroll expenses in the amount of $25,337.95 and Order No. 25-47 for general expenses in the amount of $1,802.70 was presented to the Board for review.

Nate Marvin moved, seconded by Gordon Wilkerson, to approve Order No. 25-47 for general expenses in the amount of $1,802.70. Motion carried.

Licht stated the district would like to cancel the Wex/Sinclair account and open an account with Maverick for fuel purchases.

Nate Marvin moved, seconded by Gordon Wilkerson, to allow the Chairman to sign the Fleet Application with Maverick. Motion carried.

Licht discussed the resolution regarding adopting the 2026 proposed budget for the Ambulance District.

Jim Harberd moved to approve and read Resolution No. 25-01 regarding the adoption of the 2026 Weiser Ambulance District Budget in the amount of $1,043,362.00. The motion was seconded by Nate Marvin with all in favor.

Jim Harberd moved, seconded by Nate Marvin, to approve Order No. 25-46 for payroll expenses in the amount of $25,337.95. Motion carried.

Jim Harberd moved, seconded by Gordon Wilkerson, 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 PUMPKIN PATCH)

Ray Nevarez and Dan Mink met with the Board. Dan Mink addressed the Board and stated the subject property belongs to Ray Nevarez located on Indianhead Road. Mink stated the intent was to plant the property to pasture and then have a pumpkin patch for citizens to attend with a variety of events beginning in October. Mink discussed the types of activities they hope to incorporate at the Pumpkin Patch.

Marvin stated the project may fall under a Special Use Permit under County Code, Agricultural Businesses.

Mink stated temporary activities are not considered commercial.

The proposed time schedule was discussed. Marvin stated the Board would have to look into the matter. Marvin further stated that some of the requested items were approved in an A1 zone but was not sure if all would be approved in A1. Easements and parking were discussed.

Nevarez asked if a Variance or Conditional Use permit would required. IN THE MATTER OF PROSECUTING ATTORNEY)

True Pearce, Prosecuting Attorney, met with the Board.

Marvin discussed the City of Cambridge Impact Area public hearing. Marvin asked Pearce if they should wait until a Planning and Zoning Administrator is hired before taking on the Public Hearing regarding the City of Cambridge Impact Area.

Pearce stated he thought it was up in the air of whether they were going to follow City or County Code in the Impact Area. Pearce further stated that he did not think the Planning and Zoning Administrator or Board would have anything to do with that at this point. Pearce stated a hearing needs to be held to discuss the boundary with the public. Pearce

said the Board would make the final approval. Pearce stated Statute governs how the hearing has to take place and the kind of notice that needs to go out. Pearce told the Board that could probably be done administratively. Pearce stated the Board needed to have that done by January. Pearce inquired if this process had been done with the City of Weiser as well. Pearce suggested sending a letter informing the City of Weiser they have until the end of the year to sort this out. Pearce told the Board he would draft a letter for the Board to send out, and would do the same with Midvale. Pearce told the Board they need to figure out how they want to do the hearing with the City of Cambridge and when.

Marvin stated Mckee had asked about holding the hearing at the fairgrounds in Cambridge. Recording the hearing was discussed.

Pearce told the Board that in the City of Weiser, their code is followed in the impact area. Pearce stated he would have to see if that was the case for Cambridge. Pearce clarified that the hearing would only be to set the boundaries of the impact area.

Harberd discussed the map provided by the City of Cambridge. Harberd asked if in the area of impact, if there was a potential of a subdivision, would the city have to provide water, sewer and utilities.

Marvin stated that it is typically up to the developer to provide water, sewer and utilities to the subdivision.

Pearce stated the legislature changed this because cities were drawing a huge circles around the city, saying this is our impact zone, and trying to control what happens in it when, in reality, the city doesn’t have the budget, the infrastructure, the facilities or the man power to ever provide services to areas on the far edges of what you are talking about which is why Statute is requiring the city to shrink the impact area.

Harberd discussed the proposed Pumpkin Patch presented by Ray Nevarez and Dan Mink.

Marvin asked if it would be a Special Use or would it be considered an Ag use. Marvin asked if they should contact Payette County since they do not have a Planning and Zoning Administrator.

Pearce stated they definitely don’t need to call Payette. Pearce told the Board they have all the same powers as Planning and Zoning. Pearce stated they needed to discuss the legal implications of code that would be more appropriate in executive session.

Jim Harberd moved, seconded by Nate Marvin, to go into executive session at 11:17 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 12:25 a.m. “No final action or decisions were made in executive session. We will now return to our regular agenda.”

Harberd stated based on information received from legal counsel the request for the Pumpkin Patch will be a Special Use Application. Harberd will contact the applicant.

Marvin stated he received a public records request. Marvin stated he would like a 10-day extension.

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

Harberd stated they would now discuss the Washington County 2026 budget. Harberd asked if there were any questions.

Marvin, “I guess I’ll start. At our last budget workshop, we had quite a discussion over the 3% cost of living raises. And it was pointed out that some of the departments were getting raises, some of the departments are not. I’m not very comfortable with that. I think everybody’s gonna get a raise, everybody should get a raise.

Wilkerson, “Um, It’s been stated by our legal counsel that cost of living is across the board. One and all.

Marvin, “Yes, you’re correct. And I know the, the sheriff’s office, the prosecutor’s office, the commissioners, and the ambulance district…”

White, “Ambulance is totally separate.” Marvin, “But they’re still not getting a raise.”

White, “But they’re not, they’re not part of the budget you’re discussing.”

Marvin, “Okay, so the sheriff, the commissioners and the prosecutor’s office are not taking a raise. So, I, I think we should take the 3% and put it in a special fund to cover litigation and legal fees. Is that the right word, Gordon? Just cover, just say litigation.”

Wilkerson, “Cover the cost of, cover the cost of, uh… settling litigation problems. Litigation Issues.”

Marvin, “There you go. There you go. I know that’s not going to be very popular with the employees, but I asked Donna the other day what we had given out, and if I wrote them down right, 2020, we give 3%, 21, we give 3%, 22, we give 3%,23, we bumped it up to

7%, 24 was 4%, and 25 was 3%. So out of the last 6 years, that’s 23%. So, I think, I think we have been fair. Probably not as fair as we could be, but we have give some raises. So that’s, that’s kind of where I’m at. I don’t know if we could, if we can do that, I think we could, if we put it in the right line, maybe general expense, take that 3% we’re going to use for cost of living, and put it in there for litigation expenses.”

White, “May I make a comment?” Harberd, “Certainly.”

White, “So in the county budget, you have multiple funds. In all of those funds, almost every one of them, are wages and benefits. So, you are lowering your highest of the last 3 years, or you’re giving up levy authority for Current Expense, Road and Bridge, District Court, Justice Fund, Revaluation, which is part of Debbie’s appraisers, uh, the Weed Department. You’re giving up levy authority in all of those funds, and you’re asking me to move money into a litigation fund. Which would be, we can put some in general expense, and we can put some in the Justice Fund. You can’t, you’re lowering it for all departments. It’s not, like I tried to explain to you before, the Justice Fund in their cash carryover and their fund balance, all of these things is lumped into one. But when you’re talking about taking the 3% that was projected in this budget and moving it, you’re taking it away from multiple departments, and you’re asking me to put it into one or two different funds. It’s not going to fit in the Justice Fund. The Justice Fund is at its levy limit. It’s rate. We can’t add money to it. You can probably do it to Current Expense, but at the same time, you’re lowering your levy authority for the Weed Department and Court. All of those other funds. Road and Bridge, Solid Waste, all of them. It’s not one fell swoop. That’s not how this works. And there were times when the sheriff’s office got a larger raise than anybody else in the county. Correct me if I’m wrong.”

Thomas, “You’re right.”

Harberd, “Is there any way of telling what the, the dollar amount is on this 3% county- wide, total countywide. What volume of money would be looking at?”

White, “Can I have a minute?” Harberd, Yeah. Approximation.”

Peterson, “Sabrina is in the chat. She’s tied up in her office because she’s alone there. If you have any questions for her?”

Marvin, “Who?”

Harberd, “Sabrina.”

Marvin, “Oh.”

Moxley-Potter, “And I understand what you’re saying, that we might not get a 3%, and I’m good with that. Um, But I did want to bring something to the Commissioner’s. Um, I think I’ve sent it to you guys before, but by Statute, in 63-314-3, Um, my… the revaluation budget can be a total of .04% of all market value in the county.

So, my revaluation budget could be about $475,000, and right now, it’s $268,000. So, just an FYI that I know I’ve sent this to you guys before, and I don’t know if you remember, but my levy limit is set in statute. But I’m nowhere near what it could be. So, um, both of my budgets, um, together, because I do have to increase, uh, I have a new appraiser. So, as he goes to school and passes certifications and becomes State Certified, I have, do need to make some changes along the way. Um, and so I would just gonna let you know what my total was between my two budgets. What the increase would be. So between the two budgets, it would be $10,805. So, just so you know, um, and I did, I know last week I was, um, drinking Pepto-Bismol at 4 o’clock. So, I didn’t get to be here in person, and I was trying to remember, um., what I was gonna say and was typing it as I, I was home sick, but. Um, a lot of the comments that I’ve heard from citizens, and I understand they want us to run like private industry. But I don’t think they quite understand that we are not private industry. We are legislated, um, and by the state, and there’s many services that we have to provide, and none of those are funded. So, and if only, and just remember, a quarter of our budget is from property tax. So, I’m sure you didn’t want to know all that.”

Marvin, “Thanks.”

Harberd, “Thank you very much. Anyone else?” Chandler, “Commissioner Harberd?”

Harberd, “Yes.”

Chandler, “Are we able to say something?” Harberd, “Sure.”

Chandler, “Okay, I’m Kirk Chandler. So, I just, kind of a question. You know, on the budget on the raises, I don’t, and I, I’m just not aware, but I didn’t think there was any of the raises that were in the Justice Fund. It’s all in the general fund. So, if you took the raises out, like has been proposed, it wouldn’t affect the Justice Fund at all. It all just stay in the general fund. Because Matt doesn’t have any raises, and True doesn’t have raises in his fund. So, there isn’t any raises that, so, to take some of the money and put it in a fund in the Justice Fund, that would, there’s no need to do that. There’s none of that came out of there. So, the Justice Fund shouldn’t be affected by this at all. So, it would just be taking it from raises and putting it into another line item in the…”

Harberd, “The ones that we’re supposedly going to get the 3%?”

Chandler, “Yeah, see, and it would just go into another line in that budget, so it shouldn’t change the bottom line at all. It would just change where it’s coming from, so…”

Harberd, “I just wanted to know what dollar amount that would be, approximately. Is it gonna be $20,000? Is it going to be $200,000? Is it going to be $10,000? 3%.”

White, “I didn’t have time to do it all.” Harber, “That’s fine.”

White, “Current Expense alone, it’s $103 thousand dollars, $103,667.

Road and Bridge is 55,055. The court fund overall, because I had two long-term employees retire last year, actually 3. So, I didn’t have to do wage increases, increase the wage line to give, uh, wage increases to that staff. That’s only $1,000. I didn’t go into the Justice Fund.”

Harberd, “What was your first figure?”

White, “103,667. When Matt and I went back and took the wage increases out, it was

$324,000, is that right?” Thomas, (inaudible)

White, “Now I’m using my phone, so you know.”

Thomas, “There’s one spot in the jail that I forgot to budget for last year that I put back in (inaudible).”

Harberd, “A $10,000 water heater?” Thomas, “Yeah.”

Harberd, “Or 7, whatever it was.”

Thomas, “There’s two water heaters in the jail. We replaced one, haven’t replaced the other one.”

Davis, “Wouldn’t we have to have a litigation line in each budget? So that each budget wouldn’t lose its levy authority?

White, “That’s what I’m trying to say, you can’t just pull it out of countywide and put it into Current Expense, or Justice Fund, you’re going to have to disperse it throughout the funds, otherwise you’re going to cripple certain departments by the time they give up that money.”

Harberd, “So the Weed Board would have their separate?”

Davis, “Exactly. Because I think I didn’t bring my card, I don’t have it memorized. I don’t know if I’m a .03, .04, I don’t know, .034, I don’t know. I’m way low compared to what it could be. But if something goes wrong…”

White, “Most of our funds are way below their levy rate. I keep saying this, the only one that has ever been a problem, a challenge, however you want to word it, has been the Justice Fund. Not just here in Washington County.”

Marvin, “Well, I understand we can’t do it in the Justice Fund, but you’re saying we can’t do it in Current Expense, either? We can’t pull the money from the other budgets and put it at the Current Expense?

White, “No.” You can, but you’re going to lower their, their levy amount. And so next year, when we go to levy for them, Road and Bridge’s highest of the last 3 years is gone. That falls off.”

Davis, “And, like, in my budget, Idaho code states that it has to be used for what it was budgeted for. For what it was levied for. So those funds can’t be moved to a different budget. Does that make sense?”

Marvin, “Well, I know there’s certain budgets you can’t move money around in, but I think, there is, there is. There is some budgets we could do that with but wasn’t our intent to mess up the levy for next year.”

White, “Each fund is independent. The county can levy for a bulk amount overall, but you have to take care of each fund individually. So, the Justice Fund, if you stayed flat, or if you did the increase, that was $227,937.”

Harberd, “I was just wondering how much, like I said earlier, was going to end up in this new fund.”

White, “$103,667 in Current Expense, we’ve got $55,000 in Road and Bridge, $1,000 in court, and $227,937 in the Justice Fund for the wage increases and benefits. Increase to medical is going to stay in there no matter what.”

Harberd, “So this figure, this would be the figure that if, if the 3% were able to be moved into that fund, this would be the total. This would be the total amount, all of these here. All these figures you’ve given me?”

White, “If we were going to take it out.” Harberd, “The 3%,”

White, “um-hmm.”

Harberd, “Okay.”

White, “Wage increase. Deduct $103,000 from Current Expense, another $55,000 from Road and Bridge. We already took it out of the Justice Fund. It would be about $1,000 out of Court.”

Harberd, “That’s $169,000.”

White, “Yes. But you’re taking money away from each one of those.” Harberd, “Each one of the departments?”

White, “Yes.”

Thomas, “You’re taking money “(Inaudible) Wilkereson, “Each department independently.” Thomas, “Each levy.”

White, “Each levy. The county as a whole, which is what I’ve tried to explain to you multiple times.”

Moxley-Potter, “So, Donna, can, I have a silly question. Um, in essence then, each, each budget would have to create, uh, or Brenda would create for us a line…”

White, “No,it’s me. I’d be happy to give it to Brenda at this point, but no…”

Moxley-Potter, “I’m sorry. Okay, so you would have to create a line in each of our budgets that would go towards litigation funds, and… And that’s the only way, and then when, if, that is used, then you have to be paid out of each department, correct?”

White, “If that department had litigation, yeah.”

Moxley-Potter, “If that department, but essentially what you’re saying is, or to me, what I think, I’m hearing is, if we take that 3%, and we don’t give increases but we create a litigation fund in each of our, or litigation line in each of our budgets, then as the county pays out litigation, then we would have to pay it from each of our budgets.”

White, “No, because if you were, if it wasn’t against your department, if it wasn’t against your appraisers, why would you pay it?”

Moxley-Potter, “But we can’t just take money from each one, though, can we? I mean, we can’t do that, right? Unless we have that.”

White, “Unless, your department, Deb, unless your department was involved in litigation, I feel that it would be inappropriate for you to spend money out of your budget for litigation.”

Moxley-Potter, “I get that.” White, “Okay.”

Moxley-Potter, “And I understand that. But that’s essentially what they’re saying, is we need to take that from each one, but we can’t. We can’t take it from each one unless there’s a line. A litigation line in each budget”

White, “Right. I would have to go redo the budget to do this.”

Moxley-Potter, “To add one for each, and then, and then, essentially, we would have to be willing, out of our budgets, to pay that amount.”

White, “Only if it involved your department.”

Davis, “Because of what the Statute says. Because it’s levied for that particular department.”

Moxley-Potter, “That really doesn’t do any good.” White, “Correct.”

Moxley-Potter, “I just needed to understand that.”

Harberd, “Unless you’re gonna get sued. Your department. Yes?” Wilkerson, “Come up to the microphone.”

White, “Public comment ended last week, sorry.” Wilkerson, “We were on a continued hearing.” Marvin, “No, not for the public.”

Harberd, “Oh. My mistake.”

Public speaker, “Well, I’m not public. My answer is, well, this accounting business, how do we get these people covered for the litigation that’s occurring. This is a big deal.”

White, “That’s why we had created the Emergency Reserve Fund in Current Expense in the Justice Fund, which was created back in 2014. So that if anything ever happened

within the county, you had money to fall back onto cover those expenses. And it’s called Emergency Reserve, it’s not labeled litigation but that’s what we have, and it’s in this current budget. and it’s been there for 11 years. Last year, to balance the Justice Fund Matt and I discussed it, and we took money out of emergency reserves and lowered that total dollar amount so that they could have the wage increases that were requested. This year, we, because of everything that’s going onfelt that it was needed to be increased back up to $200,000. That’s what we did. And I think that it would be bad planning to reduce that Emergency Reserve line in the Justice Fund at this point. The budget is a planning tool.”

White, “So what she is telling you (Sabrina Young in the chat), is if something happened and we didn’t have the money to cover we would do a judgment levy, just like Idaho Power did. Where we paid it, countywide, covered all the tax in the districts. We could do the same thing if we fell short on funds. Today, we are not short on funds.”

Marvin, “We must be, because we can’t afford to pay the sheriff’s office to give them a raise.”

White, “Nate, This is nothing new.”

Marvin, “I know it’s nothing new, and we haven’t fixed it.” Harberd, “Takes the legislature. Doesn’t it?”

White, “The legislature will have to change the levy rate.”

Thomas, “It’s statewide, the justice levy, every county in the state has a justice levy has the same problems, just…”

White, “If you, if you combine the two, which is what some counties do, then right now, the Current Expense and the Justice Fund can both levy for .002. If you combine the two, that levy rate goes to .0026, and that has to cover both departments. The whole thing.

And you will still be in the same boat you’re in today. Wilkerson, “What’s the levy rate for the current expense?” White, “ I just told you .002 is the statutory levy rate.” Wilkerson, “And the levy rate for the Justice Fund.” White, “Is .002.

Wilkerson, “But if you combine them, the levy rate’s .006?” White, “No. .0026.”

Wilkerson, “Oh. Often said, you’ve got to hear it several times to understand it. It’s becoming clear that all the, all the departments are stand-alone departments with the levy rate. You build that department, individually, up against levy rate so that you don’t lose your authority. By removing that. How are you keeping your levy rate up? Was that because you’re against your levy rate? All the rest of the independent departments have increased their salaries to bring the levy rate to the max.”

White, “Nobody is at their max other than the Justice Fund.”

Wilkerson, “But you’ve maxed out, you’ve gone as far as you can with each individual department?”

White, “No. The overall dollar amount that the county can levy for. That’s what we’re asking for. Which, by Statute, you are allowed to increase to 3% annually. With that dollar amount, we have dispersed that funding throughout the county, and the Justice Fund, we are supplying them, trying to give them, and are giving them, as much money as we possibly can. The County levy is $6.8 million dollars. The Justice Fund budget is

5.7. The overall county budget is $20 million. The cash carryover is $8,037,828. The other revenue is $5,258,000. That’s what’s on that revenue report that I gave you. Sorry, I didn’t see your email, and we are levying for $6,866,344. And the only one that is up against its levy rate, and the Justice Fund, as I have stated multiple times, can be .002. We are at .001998. Current Expense can be a .002, but on this current budget, it is

.000932904. Way below its levy limit. Levy rate. I don’t know how else to explain it to you.”

Harberd, “Questions?”

Wilkerson, “Nate, I’m not, Jim, I’m not too interested in losing a levy authority.” Marvin, “No, neither am I.”

Wilkerson, “County government is odd in the fact that you can’t just run it like a ranch. If we don’t have the authority, or we don’t have the means of taking away the pay increase. And fund a line in the general expense for legal issues, we create a problem. The other problem is, statutorily, I don’t know that we can offer a cost-of-living increase.”

White, “You were told that it depended on how you worded it, what kind of raise you gave. As stated on the paperwork, and as True stated at the meeting, that most of them said wage increase or all of them said wage increase. Nobody had on there a COLA.

So, according to what Mr. Pierce said at our other budget discussion, it depends on how you word it. But if you give up levy authority, it will take the county more than one year, and I can’t tell you how many, but it will take you more than a year to get that back, because that money will go to Foregone. Foregone, used to be, you could take it as long as it fit within the levy limit. Now it’s X amount for capital, and X amount 3% for other but you have to do it by resolution, you have to submit it to the State Tax Commission, and they have to approve it to decide whether or not you can take that money.

Harberd, “ready to move ahead?”

Marvin, “Where are you gonna move to?” Harberd, “Approve the budget.”

Marvin, “I don’t, I’m not happy, giving part of the employees are raises and part of them not, but I don’t know how to fix it.”

Thomas, “You can’t fix it. The Justice Fund is where it is. And my, everyone in my office knows. They’re okay with it. I mean, they understand. I mean, it’s not, no one is upset.

Well, I’m sure some are upset but haven’t said anything to me, but everyone understands what position the Justice Fund levy is in. So, it’s not, no one’s gonna come down on you guys. Ou don’t have to worry about that. No one’s gonna show up at your door with pitchfork.”

Harberd, “Sure.”

Marvin, “Well, I don’t want to, I don’t want to screw up the levy for, for the next 2 or 3 years for, for the other departments, that’s not fair either.”

Harberd, “Nope.”

Marvin, “My first thought was to put a litigation fund in each budget. But, if you can’t draw out of that as you need it. That’s not effective. The only hope you’d have is at the end of the year, that could be transferred into the following year’s budget as carryover, but I don’t know if you can do that either.”

White, “It would be carryover but you still…”

Marvin, “But if you put it as a litigation line so you didn’t give up to 3%. But I, I don’t know if that’s the best way to do it or not.”

Harberd, “But then if the Weed, if the Weed Department or the Assessor’s Office had a litigation fund, and we use that money to go into that, or any other department, is the way I understand it, if you take the 3% and put it, it had to go into each individual department. So, I don’t know if I’m correct on this or not, so, say the assessor’s office contributed into it, their own, because it has to stay with each department. So, they had this amount of money.

White, “So for Revaluation would be about $4,000 in litigation, that’s your retainer fee.”

Harberd, “Okay. So, my point is, if they didn’t have any litigation, the money had been laying there all those whatever years.

White, “Well, they don’t have a litigation line in their budget.”

Harberd, No, I’m saying that you said, but that’s what they would have to have if they wanted to put the 3%. It had to be a budget in each department.”

White, “Yeah.”

Harberd, “Road and Bridge, so if there’s not any liabilities there to draw off of that, the money is just sat there. We’ve maintained our ability to levy but the money just sat there idle. And the employees have not got anything out of it.”

Wilkerson, “Neither has a taxpayer.” Harberd, “No. Staying right there.”

Thomas, “But can you, just clarifying one thing, can you even do that now that the budgets been published, can you add a line? It’s been published. You can’t technically change it.”

Marvin, “We can’t raise it, you can lower the budget, but I don’t know. Just transferred straight across.”

Thomas, “I don’t know about adding a new budget line, because that’s what you have to do.”

White, “Right and that was not part of the publication.” Thomas, “I don’t know, I’m just asking.”

Davis, “You have to adopt the budget, am I right, Donna? Adopt the budget the way it is, and then you’d have to go back in and open it to insert that line item and move that money?”

White, “Through another public hearing.” Davis, “Yeah.”

White, “By resolution. Or if you received additional funding for something and you needed to put that in the budget, it would be the same thing. You’d have to have a public hearing and put that money into a budgeted line by resolution.”

Moxley-Potter, “Can you move it from an A to a B?”

White, “It’s frowned upon. You can’t just start moving money…” Davis, “I learned that at a training a long time ago.”

Harberd, “Any more discussion?” Marvin, “I don’t have any.”

Wilkerson, “We do not have to approve this budget until next Monday.” White, “What’s going to change?”

Wilkerson, “I don’t know.”

Marvin, “That’s, that, yeah, I thought we had a chance to change something. Well, I’m gonna make a motion. May get thrown out of the room, but I haven’t found a good solution to the problem. I thought we had a problem or a solution, but I’d make a motion that we approve the 2026 budget in the amount of $20,162,222.42.”

Harberd, “I’ll second that. Do you want this, does this resolution need to be read now, before we…”

White, “You can read it on the record.” Harberd, “This is a resolution for the, Resolution 25-04.

WHEREAS, Idaho Code Section 31-1605 requires a public hearing upon budget appropriations; and

WHEREAS, Washington County residents and taxpayers were present for the public hearing on August 25, 2025; and

WHEREAS, those present were asked if there were any concerns and there was a time for public comment on the proposed budget for FY2025-2026,

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Washington County Board of County Commissioners does hereby determine and fix the amount of the FY2025-2026 budget in the amount of Twenty Million, One Hundred Sixty-Two Thousand, Two Hundred Twenty-Two Dollars and Forty-Two Cents ($20,162,222.42) which is not greater than the amount of the published tentative budget nor includes an amount to be raised from property taxes greater than the amount advertised.

Dated this 2nd day of September 2025. Board of Washington County Commissioners.

Those in favor of approving the budget?” Harberd, “Aye.”

Marvin, “Aye.”

Wilkerson, “Aye.”

Harberd, “Motion carries.”

The Board discussed the agenda for September 8, 2025.

Motion by Jim Harberd , seconded by Gordon Wilkerson, and unanimously carried to recess at 2:36 p.m. until September 8, 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.