TRIBUNE
COLFAX - Whitman County revenues are running slightly ahead of expenditures midway through 2013, but that doesn't necessarily bode well for next year.
Whitman County Administrator Gary Petrovich and Finance Administrator David Ledbetter presented the county commissioners with a mid-year financial update Monday.
General fund expenditures topped $6.07 million through the first six months of the year, or about 46 percent of budget, compared to nearly $6.5 million in revenue.
For the year, Petrovich expects total revenues to hit $12.6 million, versus about $12.5 million for expenses.
"We're close to being even or maybe a little above (budget)," he said.
County Assessor Joe Reynolds said he expects new construction to come in around $100 million this year, largely because of the Palouse Wind wind farm project near Rosalia. That will provide a bit of a property tax boost next year, but the 2014 revenues won't be much greater than this year overall.
"Our revenue streams really aren't increasing," Petrovich said. "We're allowed a 1 percent property tax increase (not counting new construction), which is about $46,000. Sales tax revenue could increase as a result of economic activity, but that's hard to estimate. On the whole, our revenue stream should be about the same next year."
County department heads will begin submitting their 2014 budget requests next week. Petrovich said he hopes they'll keep in mind the constraints on revenue and not ask for significant increases in department expenditures.