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...