Whitcom budget gets positive view

The Whitcom finance committee called a special meeting Monday to discuss the budget for this year.

Whitcom is the regional emergency dispatch center. Dispatch services cover seven counties in Washington and Idaho.

Lisa Strenge, Whitcom employee, said that she closed out the budget for 2019 and came out with approximately $200,000 in its reserves moving forward.

“We fared a little bit better than we originally anticipated,” Strenge said. “After going through the budget there were several line items in there that we did not touch what we had budgeted for.”

Strenge said moving into this year, financially Whitcom will be able to get through the year with its projected amounts and increase in salaries and come out with approximately $300,000 in reserves moving into 2021.

“After 2021 we would have to see some sort of change with our partner agencies to cover any deficits moving forward,” she said.

Strenge mentioned these deficits can be covered by figuring out a user fee schedule. This fee schedule is still up for discussion and hasn’t yet been set in stone.

After Strenge presented the budget reserves for this coming year, Dean Kinzer, Whitman County commissioner and member of the Whitcom finance board, asked if the budget included any possible software purchases or the possible strategic planner.

Strenge said anything that hasn’t been finalized, such as possible software purchases and the strategic planner, weren’t added until she knew for sure.

At the previous Whitcom finance meeting, it was suggested to bring in an outside company to do strategic planning for Whitcom.

The proposed amount for a company to do strategic planning for Whitcom, presented at the last meeting, was $40,000.

The proposed company for the strategic planning is BDS Planning and Urban Design. BDS, based in Seattle, is now working on the Downtown Plan for Pullman.

Tara Murker, Whitcom executive director, mentioned at this most recent meeting that two different strategic planners have submitted proposals to Whitcom with a $10,000 difference between the two companies.

After reviewing the proposed budget for 2020, both Kinzer and Adam Lincoln, Pullman city administrator and member of the Whitcom finance board, agreed that these projections were positive to see and good news.