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Council reviews small budget lines: community promotions, gift cards, part-time security and noxious-weed program
Summary
Councilors questioned a $30,000 community promotions line (about $17,000 goes to Mako), discussed use of gift cards in county programs, part-time building security coding, and the constraints of the noxious-weeds program limited to state road right-of-ways.
At the May 2025 work session the County Council reviewed a cluster of smaller budget lines and operational items.
Community promotions: Finance staff said the community-promotions account totals $30,000; the largest single recurring payment is roughly $17,000 for MAKO membership dues. The proposed budget included a $1,000 increase intended for the Commission on Women. Finance Director Pamela Lynn said some recurring payments (Chamber of Commerce dues, a Daily Times subscription, legislative-breakfast costs) have been paid from that account in prior years and offered to provide invoices on request.
Gift cards: Councilors asked where purchases of gift cards were recorded. Staff said some gift cards for food-box programs come from program-specific budgets, while three small business-after-hours gift cards (about $323) came from community promotions. Council members flagged abuse risk in gift-card programs and discussed alternative approaches for assistance programs.
Part-time building security: A line-item increase for part-time building security showed a rise (example figures shown in schedules). Staff explained part-time and fill-in security positions are often budgeted as lump sums because assignments rotate among several workers and hours vary by event.
Noxious-weed program: Councilors asked about removing the county from noxious-weed spraying; staff explained the county's participation historically covers state-road rights-of-way and that reimbursement does not always cover costs, limiting the county's ability to treat county roads. Staff agreed to investigate broader, holistic invasive-species approaches that could combine grants, nonprofit partnerships and state/federal assistance.
Councilors asked staff to provide itemized invoices and to consider moving small recurring items into other executive-office lines to simplify accounting; no final budget changes were made at the session.
