Thurston County adopted a new biennial budget and increased salaries for elected officials during its last 2021 Board of County Commissioners meeting on Friday.
In a unanimous vote, the board approved its biennial operating budgets. Commissioner Tye Menser called the budget a "massive undertaking." Though it included a "touch more" spending than he hoped, he said he supported every element of it.
"There are a lot of things in here I'm very excited about," Menser said. "Anyone could pick any element out and maybe one commissioner didn't support that or whatnot, but I think the overall package here is going to be great for Thurston County."
Menser highlighted some of the many investments in the new budget: funding for several criminal justice programs, positions at the Sheriff's Office, body cameras for law enforcement, stormwater engineers, lake management, the county's Climate Mitigation Plan, its racial equity plan and parks.
The final budget includes projected revenue increases in 2022 and 2023 largely due to strong tax revenue and pandemic relief funding, the Olympian previously reported.
Assistant County Manager Robin Campbell introduced the budgets and thanked county staff for their contributions.
"This is the culmination of 11 months of hard work by many, many people across the county," Campbell said. "Just everyone involved has done a tremendous job this year, in another difficult year as we continue through the pandemic."
The approved operating budget for 2022 includes about $525 million in revenue and $515 million in expenditures, Campbell said. In 2023, though, the county plans to bring in about $412 million and expend $452 million.
The county's general fund will bring in $116.2 million in revenue and spend $125.8 million in 2022. The following year, revenue will reach $117.4 million, and expenditures will drop to $124.2 million.
Campbell said the county intentionally budgeted larger total expenditures in the general fund to spend down an end-of-year $38 million fund balance.
This anticipated fund balance includes money dedicated to one-time functions such as responding to the landmark State v. Blake decision on simple drug possession.
"When we look out, the one-time spending stops in two to three years, revenue starts to grow and you see a balancing in future years of the revenue and expenditures," Campbell said. "It was built this way by design to spend down fund balance in the near term."
The board also unanimous approved its biennial capital budget, which funds public works projects, excluding tenant improvements at the newly leased Atrium building.
In a separate vote, Commissioner Gary Edwards voted against funding tenant improvements at the Atrium building to remain consistent with his stated opposition to the county's plan to move general government offices there.
The county signed a seven-year lease to occupy the building by mid-2022. Menser said he is proud the county took tangible steps to address this long-time need.
"I'm proud of this board for stepping up and finding a short- to medium-term solution that meets the needs of the county's space without a tax increase and a fraction of the cost of previous plans," Menser said. "It's not a perfect solution, but it's the best one before us to address the needs."
Campbell said she expects tenant improvements at the Atrium to cost no more than $10 million over the next two years. The adopted budget includes $5.7 million to spend on improvements in 2022 and up to $4.3 million in 2023.
Salary increases
The board approved salary increases for county staff and elected officials on Friday. County staff will see a 2.5% cost-of-living increase while most county officials will receive a 4.2% increase.
That means the county Assessor, Auditor, Clerk, Coroner and Treasurer will each earn $131,904 in 2022 compared to $126,588 in 2021. The Sheriff earned $156,396 in 2021 so his increase will bring his salary to $162,960.
The county's prosecuting attorney will see the lowest percentage pay increase at just 2.22%, but he will remain the highest paid elected official with a $199,668 salary in 2022.
The board approved the salary increases based on recommendations from the county's Citizen's Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials. The board does not have the authority to set its own salaries.
Instead, the salary commission set increases for the county commissioners that mirrored their recommended increases and pay for most of the other elected officials.
During a Dec. 13 meeting, the salary commission abandoned a preliminary proposal to give the Auditor a 7% pay increase in favor of aligning her salary with the other elected officials.
The county did not increase salaries for any elected official going into 2021, the Olympian previously reported.
A new fund
In a notable step, the board voted unanimously to create a cumulative reserve fund for its long-gestating Habitat Conservation Plan.
Once adopted, the HCP will allow the county to streamline the permit process for developing on land that may be occupied by federally protected species, including three subspecies of Mazama pocket gophers.
The newly created fund will be used to pay for the purchase and preservation of habitat for the endangered species in Thurston County, Campbell said.
"This is a major milestone," Campbell said. "We're on the brink of having an approved Habitat Conservation Plan and being able to get going with this. We've been working on this since 2011."
A 45-day comment period for a draft environmental impact statement closed in November. Once the EIS is finalized, the county's Planning Commission will review the plan by the first quarter of 2022, according to the county.
The Board of County Commissioners may then adopt the final HCP by the second quarter of 2022.
