🏛Klickitat BOCC: Roads, Recovery & Criminal Justice Tax - 9/9-9/30 recaps
Klickitat Commissioners weighed wildfire recovery, trimmed sheriff budget requests, debated lodging tax allocations, and approved a $3.6M road funding win-while setting an Oct. 7 hearing on a new Criminal Justice Sales Tax.
Late September 2025 Updates
đź“… September 9 - Regular Session
Department Reports:
- Public Works noted delays in bridge bundle projects due to strikes but reported paving progress in Centerville and trench work at the airport.
- Emergency Management updated commissioners on wildfire recovery coordination.
- Adult Probation discussed bilingual interpretation needs.
Consent Agenda: Approved contracts for new phone trunks for the 911 system, a behavioral health amendment, a regional onsite sewage loan program MOU, and an airport grant.
Planning: Commissioners granted extensions for three short plats (Schroder, Speelman, Cox).
Funding Win: Klickitat secured $3.6 million in federal STP funds for road and bridge projects, one of the largest awards in Washington.
đź“… September 16 - Regular Session
Treasurer’s Report: Foreclosure caseloads are down to ~250 parcels, with fewer than a dozen expected to proceed to final auction. Banking fees were reduced, though postage and tax refund interest costs are up.
🏨 What’s Changing with Klickitat’s Lodging Tax
At the Sept. 16 meeting, commissioners dug into how shrinking lodging tax revenues are used and signaled tighter rules ahead:
đź’¸ Revenue Decline
- County collections have dropped since White Salmon, Bingen, and Goldendale began administering their own city lodging taxes.
- Current county lodging tax fund: ~$127,000; receipts so far this year: ~$91,000.
🎪 Use of Funds
- By law, lodging tax supports tourism promotion and events.
- Past recipients include local chambers of commerce and recurring events.
⚖️ Commissioner Concerns
- Applicants must start disclosing all other funding sources to avoid “double-dipping” (receiving both city and county support).
- Debate over whether recurring operations (like chambers) should be prioritized differently than one-off events.
➡️ Next Steps
- No immediate changes, but commissioners expect to tighten award criteria in the next funding cycle, with transparency and accountability as top priorities.
Public Works: Centerville paving completed; major projects still delayed by contractor strikes. Commissioners also discussed plans for a new access road and RV park near the fairgrounds, pending archaeological review and grants.
đź“… September 23 - Regular Session
Public Comment: During the Sept. 23 and Sept. 30 BOCC meetings, several residents pressed commissioners to consider hiring outside legal counsel for land-use and planning disputes, arguing that the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office faces a built-in conflict of interest when it both advises the Planning Department and represents the Board in appeals or ordinance hearings. They said this dual role undermines confidence that the Board receives truly independent advice, especially in contentious cases like short plats and National Scenic Area reviews. Commenters pointed to a circulating legal opinion letter questioning the Board’s authority to hire its own lawyer, urging commissioners to clarify their options.
The Board did not commit to any change but acknowledged the concern and said further review would be needed.
Board Actions:
- Approved short plat SPL 2024-14, BLA 2025-05, and SPL 2025-01.
- Scheduled hearings for two additional short plats (Kreps Brothers and Riggleman).
- Approved Medicaid Case Management contracts (signed “as to form” by the Prosecutor).
- Passed a resolution authorizing Adult Probation bilingual stipends.
Consent Agenda: Authorized sheriff’s purchases, including ballistic vests and new radar units, using grant cost-shares.
đź“… September 30 - Regular Session & Supplemental Budget Hearing
Public Hearing: Adopted a supplemental budget (2025-2) that:
Resolution: Scheduled an October 7 hearing to consider placing a Criminal Justice Sales Tax on the ballot.
Closed Session: Commissioners entered executive session under RCW 42.30.140(4)(a) for labor negotiations (no action afterward).
Public Comment: Renewed calls for independent land-use legal counsel.
💰 What the Supplemental Budget Did and Didn’t Fund
At the Sept. 30 public hearing, commissioners adopted Supplemental Budget 2025-2, making mid-year adjustments:
âś… Approved (in part)
- Emergency Management: Overtime and direct wildfire recovery expenses.
- Other urgent operational adjustments across departments.
✂️ Trimmed / Deferred
- Emergency Management: Broader recovery staffing and programmatic requests were cut back, with commissioners noting they belong in the 2026 budget cycle.
đźš« Withheld Entirely
- Three Sheriff’s General Fund requests (staffing/overtime/equipment).
- Rationale: Concern about “budget creep” in law enforcement.
- Commissioners stressed that the Sheriff’s Office already receives a large share of the general fund.
- Departments should resubmit needs through the regular budget process for full vetting.
This marked one of the most explicit examples of commissioners signaling fiscal caution on law enforcement growth, especially as insurance premiums and liability costs tied to policing and corrections continue to rise.
đź—“ Next Steps & Participation
đź’» Join future meetings on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/586587651
đź“ž Dial-in: 1 (669) 900-6833 | Meeting ID: 586 587 651
📬 Submit written comments: bocc@klickitatcounty.org (due by noon the day before a meeting to be acknowledged).