Bonner County treasurer details modest $12,351 B-budget increase; commissioners ask for historic-aligned adjustments

Treasurer Clarissa Coers presented Bonner County's treasurer's B-budget on May 28, proposing a net increase of $12,351 largely to cover statutory duties and higher operating costs.

Coers told the Board that the single-year uptick is driven by postage and lockbox processing for tax notices, higher courier fees and increased title-report costs. "My B budget is an overall increase for this coming year of $12,351," Coers said, and she outlined line-item changes including an estimated $32,500 for postage and a $23,750 lockbox/printing allocation to handle tax bill production and image storage.

The treasurer described travel and training adjustments: mileage falls by $285 and she budgeted $400 for airfare for conferences, plus modest funds for two staff trainings. "The treasures annual conference will be in Salmon, Idaho," Coers said, and she used the quoted Salmon hotel rate to justify a lodging increase.

Commissioners pushed for some changes based on historic spending. Commissioner Asia Williams recommended aligning supplies to last year's actuals rather than the treasurer's lower proposed figure, and the board asked staff to update the workbook to raise office supplies from $7,000 to $8,200 to reflect mailings and material costs. Williams also argued title-report spending should track recent trends rather than a worst-case projection: after discussion the board agreed to reduce the proposed title-report budget to a level closer to historic annual spend (the treasurer had proposed $27,000; commissioners suggested $10,000 with contingency available if an anomalous year occurs).

Coers said the county's copier, jokingly called "Linda," is failing after service since 2013 and that Canon estimated a lease-plus-usage cost of roughly $400 a month; the board asked staff to add a copier lease line (a C-budget item) to the worksheets.

On security and operations, Coers defended continuing daily courier service despite price increases (the fee rose to about $94.50 per day from $84). She said courier reliability and the need for bonded, licensed transport make the service necessary. "I am not in favor of asking employees to transfer large sums of money and have that risk assumed by them," a commissioner said in support of the courier.

Other notable items: advertising for tax-deed publication was held at $2,500 in expectation of a tax sale; the public-administrator expense was negotiated down from a proposed $6,000 to $3,000 to reflect an average one-estate-per-year approach with contingency for unexpected insolvencies; and the treasurer agreed to lower projected title-related revenue to $19,000 based on current-year receipts.

On salaries, the board noted a chief-deputy pay item not yet reflected in the worksheets and discussed pending HR-provided step and cost-of-living (COLA) scenarios; staff said step/COLA projections will be shown separately so the board can see base costs versus step/COLA impacts.

The board and treasurer agreed that where possible the county should rely on historic trends rather than worst-case budgeting and that contingency funds remain appropriate for true anomalies. No formal vote was recorded on the treasurer's budget lines during this session; staff said they would update the workbook to reflect the agreed adjustments and redistribute the summary.

The meeting moved on after the treasurer's presentation; commissioners thanked Coers for the detailed, line-by-line explanation.