Washington County: Budget passes with no tax hike

By Christine Haines

chaines@yourmvi.com

Washington County Commissioners adopted a $104 million spending plan Monday with no increase in taxes.

The plan is supported by $94 million in anticipated revenue and a $10 million transfer from the county fund balance generated by the sale of the former Washington County Health Center, as well as oil and gas revenue. Property taxes will remain at 2.34 mills.

All three commissioners voted in favor of the budget. Republican Nick Sherman said it fulfills a campaign promise.

“As a freshman commissioner, I have no basis for comparison, but I feel really good about this budget,” he said. “In a time of a national pandemic, we could have had expenses going through the roof, but we didn’t. For the first time in county history, we are going to have a human services department.”

Sherman said the new department will bring all county services under one initial point of contact with the intent of doing a better job of addressing the root causes of drug and alcohol problems in the county.

The new department will bridge the communications gap that sometimes exists between services, he added. Intake will involve a thorough evaluation to determine the best treatment plan for social service clients.

“Before they are released from services, the human services department will be dotting every I and crossing every T,” Sherman said. “We will make sure they have gainful employment so there won’t be a vicious cycle of depression and unemployment and drug abuse.”

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