CANYON CITY — The Grant County Court on June 26 unanimously voted to adopt a county budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year totaling $101.54 million, after three months of budget committee deliberation.

The adopted budget includes an $11.7 million general fund, cash on hand of $6.1 million, an unappropriated general fund ending balance of $4.5 million and an operating contingency fund of $164,180. The unappropriated general fund is a savings fund that cannot be touched in this budget year.

The adopted total budget of $101.54 million is up about $1.74 million from $99.7 million in fiscal 2023-24.

It projects a workforce of about 84.86 full-time-equivalent employees for fiscal year 2024-25, up from 81.57 FTE last fiscal year.

The budget committee voted for a 4% cost-of-living adjustment for all county employees for the next fiscal year, after last year’s 6% increase.

The county received $847,000 in federal payments in lieu of taxes (known as PILT) for the coming year on Wednesday, June 26, with the money going into the general fund. Unlike past years, that payment will not be reduced in proportion to a separate payment from the U.S. Forest Service under the Secure Rural Schools Act.

Under a state law passed in 2021, Secure Rural Schools funds do not count against a county’s PILT funding if the SRS funds are transferred into a road district. The county created a special road district last year for that purpose.

Another source of funds for the general fund is $234,000 in interest from $4.5 million in the unappropriated reserve fund.

The county has also received about $4 million in recent years in federal COVID relief money in the form of the Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund, which is expected to garner $250,000 in interest annually for the general fund, officials said.

As it did last year, the budget committee decided to set aside the $4 million in LATCF money instead of spending it through the general fund.

“We were just fortunate enough we didn’t have to use it this year,” said Grant County Treasurer Julie Ellison. However, with COVID relief funds drying up, Ellison anticipates potentially having to utilize $1 million from those funds in the 2025-26 fiscal year.

“I bet we’re going to have to take a minimum of $1 million out of there,” she said.

The Grant County Sheriff’s Office received a total budget of $2.76 million for the next fiscal year.

Prairie City officials had pledged to contribute $100,000 for additional patrol coverage in the city, and Ellison said the pledge is worked into the sheriff’s budget for this fiscal year.

Prairie City Council members adopted their budget on June 26, with $100,000 set aside for sheriff’s patrol coverage in the city, though Mayor Ed Clark said he plans to discuss the potential for not utilizing all of the funds for patrol and setting aside 30-40% of those funds as a contingency for other city purposes.

Clark said negotiations have yet to take place with Sheriff Todd McKinley, though he hopes an agreement will be finalized soon.

“There’s the hope we can cut that back and still get good coverage and maybe save the city some money,” Clark said.

Clark, who came onto the city council in August of last year and became mayor after Scott Officer stepped down in February, had earlier expressed concern over the overall annual cost of $100,000.

“As a small city, every penny counts, and that is a pretty large sum of money to come up with on a yearly basis,” Clark said in April. “That is part of the conversation we’re going to have.”

John Day’s budget for 2024-25 also sets aside $100,000 toward sheriff’s patrol coverage in the city. City Manager Melissa Bethel said the funds are not a done deal yet until an intergovernmental agreement can be negotiated between herself and McKinley and approved by government officials.