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Washington County pulls item 17 to consider adding budget language on service changes and community impacts
Summary
At its Dec. 16 work session, the Washington County board pulled item 17 from the consent agenda so commissioners can consider an amendment to add the language "Develop a proposed budget that outlines service changes and impacts to the community" to the county's budget priorities; the item will move to action item 7 for consideration.
Chair Katherine Harrington opened the Washington County work session on Tuesday, Dec. 16, and asked to remove item 17 from the consent agenda, saying the draft guiding principles and priorities do not provide sufficient direction to address an identified gap.
A commissioner who said they had emailed the board explained they plan to bring an amendment to the budget priorities to elevate language discussed at a prior roundtable and included during deliberations: "Develop a proposed budget that outlines service changes and impacts to the community." The commissioner said that language does not appear in the version of the consent agenda posted for this meeting despite what they characterized as prior support from at least three commissioners.
Board members discussed where the wording should appear in county documents. Chair Harrington and others agreed the language should be included in the budget principles and be positioned above a separate bullet referencing use of a community service level assessment tool to understand reduction impacts on residents.
Chair Harrington said the item will be pulled from the consent agenda and moved into the action portion of the agenda as action item 7. She outlined the planned sequence: a motion to adopt the draft guiding principles and priorities, followed by a proposed amendment, and then a vote on adoption as amended. No final vote on the guiding principles and priorities occurred during the work session.
The board also discussed scheduling; a commissioner noted they would need to step away briefly midmorning. The county did not provide additional details or a timetable for final action beyond moving the amendment into the action calendar for consideration.
Next steps: the amendment and the guiding principles will be considered as part of action item 7 on the county agenda; the transcript records discussion and scheduling but no final adoption at this meeting.
