Whitman County begins 2012 budget process

Whitman County has begun the difficult process of finding how to pay for its operations next year.

County commissioners put out the official call for department budgets for its roughly $14 million current expense fund last Monday, June 26. Expectations are spending proposals will outpace revenues by more than $1 million.

This year’s spending plan was ahead of baseline revenues, but the budget was balanced by eliminating some capital expenses, like replacing heating and air-conditioning systems and upgrading information technology from the current expense spending.

Those upgrades were made with an in-house loan from the county’s solid waste reserve fund which is expected to be paid with future tax revenues from the Palouse Wind north county turbines.

The county anticipates $500,000 for sales taxes from the wind farm.

“Those are one-time dollars,” Commissioner Greg Partch said in a meeting last week.

Gary Petrovich, county administrator, reported First Wind has paid full sales taxes on its wind farm construction. A state program that previously allowed wind farm builders to exempt all of their sales taxes now allows such companies to take a 75 percent credit.

Petrovich reported First Wind applied for a $4.3 million refund in its construction sales tax payments in April.

One bright light is that spending from the various departments in the current expense fund is lagging behind projections, said Petrovich.

If that trend continues, and if First Wind’s sales tax amounts to the predicted $600,000 to $700,000, the county may end 2012 with a surplus it can apply to the 2013 budget.

Through June, the county had collected $6.4 million in revenue. That figure was well ahead of predictions but also included the full First Wind sales tax payment.

Spending was $4.7 million, about one-third of the yearly total and behind expectations that should have been about 42 percent, according to David Ledbetter, financial administrator.

Ledbetter noted during a financial review last month that more than two-thirds of the county’s current expense spending has been for salaries and benefits.