From left – Washington County Auditor Dan Widmer, Superviors Stan Stoops, Jack Seward Jr., and Bob Yoder.

The Washington County Board of Supervisors discussed budgets at Tuesday’s meeting. From left, Supervisor Vice Chair Abe Miller and Chairman Richard Young. Photos by Sally Y. Hart – KCII News

Departments within Washington County have a directive to keep budgets at a zero percent growth, but have not yet received word from the supervisors for salary increases. The salary rate hasn’t been set yet because the supervisors are still waiting for an official letter from the compensation board with their recommendation. Supervisor Jack Seward said, “I think we have to move forward with what we have here, which is 0% target for departmental spending and we have to take care of our people, because without the people working here things are going to fall apart pretty quickly.” The compensation board recommended a 2.5% increase for elected officials’ salaries.

The supervisors also discussed the need for building improvements and where that money will come from in the budget. Supervisor chairman Richard Young said the communications office has to find a new building, and it may require a bond vote to fund the project. Young said, “There’s no way we can save enough money next year to build that building. It’s impossible. You’re talking millions of dollars to build that building.” He added, it needs to be done within the next year or two to accommodate new equipment, and the communications board will have to decide on that within the next few months.

Budgets from department heads are due by January 16th, less than two weeks away. Once those are submitted, a budget workshop is set up with the supervisors with each department before the board sets the county’s overall budget. The county budget has to be approved by the supervisors no later than March 15th.