Capital expenses: Amendment grows county budget by $1.2m

Whitman County’s first budget amendment was approved Monday by commissioners, finalizing a simplification of county accounting practices.

The amendment added $1,165,935 to the 2012 current expense budget, lifting expenses from $12,896,617 to $14,062,552.

Financial Administrator David Ledbetter explained the total will be unique to 2012, as it includes a loan for major projects on the courthouse complex and reflects a switch in the county’s accounting practices.

County officials, in an effort to meet state audit standards, opted to prepare their financial statement on a simple “cash” basis, instead of the more detailed accrual method.

The simpler cash model shows the county’s financial status at the end of each year. Accrual accounting tracks the value of all county-owned assets, instead of just financial transactions.

Switching over to the simplified reporting form meant $317,625 in financial activity done in 2011 was put on the 2012 books because those transactions, though initiated last year, were made this year.

A major factor influencing the budget amendment was $600,000 to replace the chiller on the jail roof.

Commissioners, in an effort to balance this year’s budget, removed capital improvement projects from the budget.

Instead, they decided to fund them by borrowing against future property tax revenues from First Wind’s Palouse Wind farm being built this summer between Oakesdale and Rosalia.

The money will be borrowed from the solid waste reserve fund, which is kept for major projects at the county landfill and will be repaid out of the wind farm’s property taxes.

Monday’s amendment also accounted for the disbursement of funds from three previously untouched reserve funds.

That money, a total of $388,569, was directed to several uses.

Commissioners decided to tap some of it to give $550 one-time payments to county employees this year instead of raising their salaries.

Another $203,000 will be spent to upgrade information technology equipment.

Ledbetter said the prime cost will be replacing servers. He said IT director Chris Nelson told him the current servers are well past their life spans and are in dire need of replacement.

More money may also be used this summer to replace heating and air conditioning systems in the IT building and the Public Service Building.

Most of the rest of the budget amendment was made for technical purposes. Several old, unused funds were dissolved and their contents were moved into current funds.

Ledbetter said most of that was made possible by the switch to the New World accounting software.