Town Hall Speaks to County’s Triple Threat

First in a 3-part series

County Auditor Milene Henley, County  Administrator Pete Rose, Council Members Richard Fralick and Gene Knapp met with Orcas Islanders on Wednesday, Aug. 4 at  a Town Hall meeting at the Eastsound Fire Hall.

The Council had set their 2010 priorities as

• Balanced budget and long-term budget sustainability
• Disposable waste solution
• Critical Areas Ordinance update

Fralick, current Chair of the County Council, took the lead in presenting the information to the audience and fielding questions in these three topics.

He announced that physical property assessments, which have taken place on a three-year revolving schedule, now will be reassessed on Orcas Island in 2012. A computer model based on past history will be used for the annual reassessment, which Fralick said will track current market conditions.

There were some questions as to whether the assessments could be appealed each year, or only the year that the property is re-evaluated, with Rose suggested that the assessment could be appealed every year. However, audience members complained that the assessment could only be appealed for a specific period of 30 or 90 days following the 3-year (now 4-year) re-assessment.

Barbara Seifert asked “If the appraisal is good through 2012, and [a property owner] may have missed the 30- or 90-day period, can it be challenged before 2012?”

Fralick pledged to research the matter with County Assessor Charles Zalmanek, and post an answer on the county website.

Rose urged citizens to appeal to their “fellow citizens” on the Board of Equalization to respond to their concerns.

In response to questions about county employee costs, Henley said “The county payroll is about 78% of current expense, which includes payroll and benefits; benefits are 29% of  payroll.” Rose explained that health benefits are the major benefit expense.

A freeze in pay and benefits was discussed and Rose said, “Now there is a kind of disconnect between growth of labor costs and amount of money we have in the government.” Fralick pointed out the County Sheriff’s guild had a cost-of-living- allowance (cola) in their contract and voluntarily voted not to take it.

In response to another question, Fralick said it was worthy considering whether the county should remove itself from the state retirement system and privatize retirements instead.

In considering county job layoffs, Fralick explained that because there are “multiple services because of [the county’s] multiple islands,” consolidation of services needs to be considered.

Rose explained that, when considering budget cuts, social services are always “the most vulnerable, most discretionary, and the most popular.” He reminded the audience that the Council asked voters if they wanted to pass a levy that would fund a slate of social services last fall, and that tax measure will be effect for six years.

Patty Miller, unopposed candidate to take Gene Knapp’s Council seat when he retires in January, asked if the budget described by Henley was truly conservative and asked if a “no growth, no revenue scenarios for the next three years to see what is truly conservative” had been considered.

Henley replied that the budget proposed assumed one percent growth in most things, although current property tax revenue is actually at two percent. She concluded, “We have not done a zero-based budget.”

Further posts will report on the Solid Waste issue and the Critical Areas Ordinance update discussed at the Aug. 4 Town Hall meeting.