Grant County adopts $142 million 2020 budget
EPHRATA — Grant County Commissioners on Monday approved the county’s $142.2 million 2020 budget, a 6 percent increase over the county’s current 2019 budget.
The 2020 budget anticipates spending of $46.1 million for the general fund — which covers law enforcement, the county jail and the courts — as well as $22 million for the county roads, $12.8 million for county mental health care provider Grant Integrated Services, $1.3 million for the fairgrounds and $5.6 million to run the county landfill south of Ephrata.
More than half the general fund — around $27.5 million — is dedicated to “law and justice,” with $9.9 allocated to the sheriff’s office, $6.3 million to operate the jail, $3.6 million for the public defender’s office, $3.2 million for the county prosecutor, and $4.4 million to run both superior and district courts.
In addition, the overall county budget contains a new line item, $2.4 million, for “jail construction,” a placeholder for revenue expected from the three-tenths of 1 percent dedicated sales tax for “law and justice” that county voters passed in November.
Commissioners approved the county’s current expense property levy to just under $19.3 million, increasing the tax levy 1 percent from 2019. They also approved a 1 percent increase in the 2020 countywide road levy to $9.7 million.
According to the 2019 levy rates, Grant County property owners were taxed $1.56 per $1,000 of assessed value on roughly $11.9 billion in total assessed property for county general expenses, while they were taxed $1.72 per $1,000 of assessed value on $5.6 billion in total property to fund work on the county roads.
In addition, Grant County property owners paid small levies of 2.5 cents per $1,000 of assessed value to fund county mental health services and 1.1 cents per $1,000 to fund veterans services.
Levy rates for 2020, which are set by the County Assessor’s office, have not been made public yet.
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com