Colfax budget amendment reflects unanticipated costs

Colfax City Council at its Dec. 15 session approved an amended version of the 2014 budget. The annual year-end budget amendment allows for spending and revenue which was not anticipated over a year ago when the city set the budget.

Total of the 2014 amended budget was $3,176,141.

Largest change on the budget was the bank stabilization project on the North Fork of the Palouse River. The late fall project had a bottom line of $66,364, according to a summary sheet presented to the council for the Dec. 15 meeting.

The project involved installing five rock barbs in the river channel in the area south of the Glenwood bridge. The rock barbs, made up of pillar rocks, are designed to deflect water flow away from the bank of the river.

Aim of the project was to protect a city water main and an internet line which were threatened by the erosion of the river bank along the north side of the river.

The city was reimbursed $57,536 from the Department of Ecology through a grant which was issued through the Palouse Conservation District. The balance of the project came out of the street fund.

Another big ticket item in the budget was the extension of police shifts to provide around-the-clock coverage. The extension was initiated by the need for security coverage at Whitman Hospital which has also contracted for coverage for the coming year.

Among items listed in the budget amendment was $36,600 which was offset by revenue from the hospital contract.

The South Fork of the Palouse River rock flood episode was also reflected in the budget amendment with $20,000 revenue listed from the state Department of Transportation. The department had pledged the $20,000 to reimburse the city for removing the rock which had originated from the drainage system along the Palouse Highway grade.

Among other items in the city’s unanticipated spending throughout the year was $12,000 for the purchase of railroad siding property on Lake Street and along Railroad Ave., and $8,557 in expenses to fund training of a new finance director when two people were on the staff near the end of the year.