Rice County commissioners divide over process and budget priorities

Commissioners spent a substantial portion of the meeting arguing both about substance and process. One commissioner (speaker 5) defended the earlier motion to reduce outside-agency awards by 10%, citing packet figures and saying, "I still stand by my motion and how we voted on it to, cut 10 from the outside agencies." Another commissioner (speaker 2) called the process flawed and said agencies should have been warned: "I think we did them wrong... they didn't even get notice when they're working on their budget process." Commissioner (speaker 6) agreed the approach lacked adequate notice and recommended restoring the 10% cut now while directing staff and the board to develop a clearer review process for next year.