County begins work on new budget

THOMPSON FALLS – With the new fiscal year officially beginning on Tuesday, July 1, the county commissioners are in the midst of drafting the county budget for the coming year.

Since May the commissioners and county clerk and recorder have been working to formulate the budget for the county government.

The budget drafting process started with going over the general fund.

After this step was complete the clerk and recorder and the county commissioners went line by line, examining past expenditures to get an early idea of where next year’s budget will look like when it is finalized.

Collecting information from the various department heads throughout Sanders County kicked off the first part of drafting the yearly budget.

Nichol Scribner, the Sanders County Clerk and Recorder, sent out worksheets to the various department heads.

Scribner said the department heads fill in what they spent last year and what needs they have in the upcoming fiscal year.

Another part of the preliminary budget process involves going over each department’s expenditures from the following year.

“We come together and discuss what each department is looking for and compare it to what they spent last time around,” Scribner said.  

Scribner noted the going over each department’s expenditures is a preliminary portion of the budget drafting stages.

Nevertheless, the early stage of the process does give the county a good idea of what to plan for when the budget is completely finalized later in the year.

A big part of drafting the budget for the next fiscal year centers on tax information from the Department of Revenue.

The state Department of Revenue sends tax information to the county, and the county can than draft their budget based on the allotted revenue from taxes the government has to work with.

Property valuations by the Department of Revenue and the property taxes coming from them provide specific parameters for the budget during the next fiscal year and will allow the county to finalize the budget.

Until the county receives information from the state the budget process will continue to work through preliminary stages.

“We hurry up, get our stuff done and wait on tax information,” Scribner said.

This year marks the first Scribner has worked as county clerk and recorder and so far the budget drafting process has went off without a hitch.

“I feel like the budget process has been moving on smoothly so far,” Scribner said.

Last year the county finalized the budget process in September.