Bonner County unveils $58.6 million budget

SANDPOINT — Bonner County landowners will see a 2.66-percent increase on the county portion of their taxes.

The county commission is hosting public hearings at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Monday at the Bonner County Administration prior to adopting its $58.6 million budget for the coming fiscal year.

The board’s goal was to sustain its level of county services and achieve its objectives without expanding the budget more than 3 percent over this year’s spending plan.

Commission Chairman Cary Kelly said the potential tax increase was more than 9 percent when commissioners began huddling with department heads to draw up the latest budget.

“I was really delighted when we got down to brass tacks and we were able to get things funded without going over 3 percent,” said Kelly.

The board’s objectives included replacing obsolete personal computers, rejuvenating its sagging information technology infrastructure, providing modest raises to county employees and deputies, and funding capital necessary capital improvements.

“We really had some big costs that needed to be looked at,” Kelly said.

Bonner County’s email software is more than a decade old and no longer supported by Microsoft. County computers’ operating systems are in the same boat and had to be upgraded.

“All of our computers are (Windows) XP and Microsoft has told us for years, ‘We’re not going to support that after the spring of 2014,’” said Commissioner Mike Nielsen.

The county has suffered several computer system failures over the years, which has wiped out email and telephone services.

 An in-depth external review of the county’s computer infrastructure revealed a host of compatibility and performance issues, including insufficient Internet security.

All told, the computer and infrastructure impacted the budget by $800,000 according to commissioners.

Delayed and deferred building maintenance and equipment upgrades at the jail and courthouse added $420,000. The jail needed 18 heating-ventilation-and- cooling units, while the courthouse needed nine. The county also budgeted the purchase of a 250-kilowatt generator to serve its emergency operations center and provide emergency power to the courthouse.

The board was also able to implement $0.50 per hour cost-of-living increases for employees and $1 raises for deputies and emergency personnel. Sheriff’s deputies signed on to special teams will receive an additional $1 per hour.

Another big-ticket item in the budget was defending a federal lawsuit filed by the developers of SilverWing at Sandpoint Airport. The board set aside $900,000 for that item.

“We have no choice,” said Nielsen, noting that an adverse verdict could cost as much as $26 million, while a settlement was projected at $5 million.

The county was able to fund most of the initiatives largely through $6.1 million it pulled from reserve funding in departments across the entire budget.

The county also received another $1 million in back taxes from the new majority owner of the Idaho Club.

“By finding all these reserves, it really, really made things happen this year,” Nielsen said.

Kelly also gave credit Bonner County Clerk Ann Dutson-Sater and her deputy clerks, who did a lot of work to make sure the objectives could be met with the least amount of burden on taxpayers.

“We really had the full cooperation of the clerk’s office. They worked hard to make this happen,” Kelly said.