At a Budget Committee meeting, County Treasurer Terry Ross said county sales tax receipts through the 14th were about 3.7% higher than at the same point last year and ‘‘about 500 and some thousand dollars over.’'

Ross, the county treasurer, told the committee that department heads were notified about the budget process at a meeting last Thursday and that departments must return their proposed budgets to ‘‘Chris and myself by Aug. 15.’' He said staff will schedule reviews with the committee and department budget officers and will provide dates when they are determined.

The committee approved the June 18 minutes by voice vote. The Chair moved to approve the minutes and Mister Rickey seconded; the Chair announced the motion carried after an ‘‘Aye’’ vote.

On the budget calendar, Ross said staff hope to follow the timetable sent to departments and ‘‘have a tentative [budget] filed late September or early October’’ and a final budget in November; in the meeting he also referenced ‘‘late December’’ as a possible filing time while describing the schedule. He said specific review meeting dates are ‘‘to be determined’’ and asked committee members to tell staff whether they prefer to have each department head appear for a 15-minute presentation or to use a different process.

Ross said he would send committee members the materials staff had provided to department heads, including the timetable and procedures, and he asked members to share preferences with him, Carissa, Chris or Bridal. The discussion on presentation format included committee members noting past practice of scheduling 15-minute department-head presentations beginning at 9 a.m., but also questioning whether to continue that process because of low board participation.

No ordinances, resolutions, budgets, or grant awards were acted on during the meeting. The only formal action recorded in the transcript was approval of the June 18 minutes. Staff directions recorded in the meeting include the department-notification process, the Aug. 15 submission deadline for department budgets, and staff’s commitment to circulate the timetable and procedures to committee members.