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 [email protected]