Here's what I heard and understood at today's briefings. Meeting went from 830 am until noon with all three commissioners in attendance.
1. Union Contracts. For background see my April 6 and May 3 postings on the contract settlement with the jail and corrections facility staff.
Today the Sheriff and the Undersheriff met with the commissioners to discuss how this obligation is going to be funded in 2010. Recall that we're talking salary increases of $95K in 2010 and over $200K in 2011 - that's for just 40 or so union employees. We learned today that some of these employees have not had a salary adjustment in about nine years resulting in a need to increase salaries up to 16 percent but on average the increase was 5.6 percent. The bombshell in my estimation was learning that because it's taken so long to negotiate this agreement, the county and union employees will start all over negotiating a new contract next month - June 2010.
The Commissioners insisted the Sheriff must absorb the increase of $95K. The Sheriff and Undersheriff made the case that in the past a supplemental budget increase has been provided to offset the increase the Commissioners negotiated. The Commissioners, who rarely agree with each other in such an open and fervent manner, stood firm on the position that the county doesn't have the extra revenue to cover the increased salaries.
Lynda in the midst of this pretty tough discussion about how this pay roll increase was going to be funded says, "Move the jail from the Sheriff and place it under the Commissioners." In other words if the Sheriff can't figure out how to manage the jail within his current budget then the Commissioners will take the jail on. At this point Tim just about came out of his seat saying, "I don't want responsibility for the jail and I want to go on record stating this."
Next Monday the Sheriff and the Board are going to pick this same conversation right up again. So check back next week for more on this.
For future reference purposes, I heard Tim state during all of this heated discussion that he is willing to consider a levy shift for 2011. Let's all remember this as we go into the budget development process this fall.
2. Commissioners Salary. Assuming I understood this correctly, the commissioners are planning to increase by 3% the salaries for District 1 and 2 (Lynda and Tim). Rationale for the increase is to bring all commissioners salaries to the same level. Ross is currently being paid ($76,083.60) while Lynda and Tim are at $73,867.32. I honestly couldn't believe my ears that a salary increase was even being discussed given the anti-incumbent feelings sweeping the country. After further reflection I'm wondering why not just decrease District 3 salary? That would be another way to standardize the salaries.
3. Increase BOCC from Three to Five. Tim proposed increasing the commission to a five member board. He would take the total salaries for the three commissioners divide it by five. By doing this there would not be an increase in cost of payroll and we'd have two extra commissioners. He made the case that his district is the largest of the three and that it's "U" shaped with a fjord in the middle. The other two commissioners don't have the same geographic challenges, Tim opined. Lynda appeared to be open to the idea of redrawing the three districts but not necessarily going to a five member board. To bring about either change (five districts or redrawing the district lines) there would need to be a petition of 20% of the voters from each district. With enough signatures from voters, the change in districts could be placed on the ballot.
4. Increase Coroner Salary for 2011. Lynda also made the case for increasing the Coroner's salary. The Assessor, Auditor, Treasurer, etc make $68,130 while the Coroner is paid $51,192. Lynda doesn't think this is fair and asked the staff to do a survey of other counties to determine what other coroners in the state are making.
3. School Impact Fees. Community Development brought this up today asking the commissioners what they wanted to do. Both Tim and Lynda turned to Ross and each separately said to him,"Ross, what do you want to do?" Barbara Adkins will let the Planning Advisory Committee know that just because the school supervisors want to increase impact fees, the county commissioners are not required to hold public hearings or even consider the proposal. I'm thinking this is a dead issue.
There you have it, Mason County. Talk to you again soon and thanks for visiting my blog.
Monday, May 10, 2010
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This is only tip of the iceberg for the Belfair Water District. They have routinely had over 50 attendees at their regular meetings which caused them to move thier meetings from 7pm to 2 pm in an attempt to reduce public attendence and comment. John Phillips will sling mud at any agency or person, trying to deflect the negative attenion away from the mismanagement of his District. There is a reason that the tiny district has been in the paper every week for almost a year. They need 4.5 million dollars for a line replacement and all they can do is spin their wheels. It is unfortunate to see what they have done to Ken and many other of their customers. They want to charge the fire department $10,000 every year to be able to use water in putting out fires and when the fire department refuses John Phillips commences the bashing. The fire department has worked hard to protect me and our community while the water district has done all it can to tear our community apart. I invite you to attend a water district meeting to see just how deplorable commissioner John Phillips and water manager Dave Tipton treat their customers.
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