Okanogan County tells Aeneas/"Enia Slate" irrigation district to end use of registered warrants by Dec. 31, 2025

Okanogan County Treasurer Pam Johnson told representatives of the Aeneas (referenced in the record as “Enia Slate”) irrigation district that the county will not treat registered warrants as an open-ended funding source and has set December 31, 2025 as the deadline for the district to come off registered warrants.

Johnson said the district was given three years after first moving to registered warrants in 2021 and that “that 3 years ended December 31, 2024” and that the county extended the arrangement for one additional year: “So there is an end date of December 31, 2025 to be off of register warrants.”

The discussion, at a Finance Committee meeting that included county auditors and district board members, focused on how the district can reach solvency without continuing to draw on other local governments’ pooled funds. Irrigation officials warned that without the district in operation some private wells and wells that support ranching and orchards could run dry. Jack Denison, who identified himself as the district board chair, described efforts to reduce debt and to pursue projects intended to reduce operating costs.

Why it matters: registered warrants are effectively short-term IOUs that use other entities’ pooled cash to meet district obligations. County staff said the practice poses a fiscal risk to other depositors if warrants are relied on indefinitely. The county’s direction makes a deadline and pushes the district to identify revenue or outside funding to cover operations and repairs.

Most important facts

- The county says the irrigation district was allowed to use registered warrants (a…