During its meeting on May 8, the Harney County Court approved Resolution 2019-15 in the matter of appropriating funds due to unexpected occurrence or condition.

The resolution states that, “Harney County is experiencing a fiscal emergency due to an incorrect budgeted beginning fund balance beginning in 2013. To increase the General Fund balance for fiscal year [2018-2019], a transfer from General Fund Operating Reserve to General Fund should be completed.”

A total of $42,000 was transfered from the General Fund Operating Reserve to the General Fund.

“This $42,000 totally zeros out this account,” Harney County Judge Pete Runnels reported.

In a letter published in the May 1 edition of the Burns Times-Herald, the court explained that, “Beginning in 2018, the county judge and treasurer discovered that for many years — five years at a minimum, but possibly longer — the budget process each year had proceeded based on a significantly overstated beginning-fund balance. That meant that the county passed budgets that exceeded yearly revenue.”

During the previous county court meeting (held April 23), Harney County Commissioner Mark Owens said the court’s goal is to end this fiscal year (July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019) with a $0 ending-fund balance, so it can proceed with budgeting for the next fiscal year (July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020). He said, through interfund transfers of $475,000, the court projects to end this fiscal year a little above $0.

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Discussion regarding the county’s budget shortfall dominated the public comment period.

Herb Vloedman said that for more than three years, audit letters indicated that county finances were declining and needed to be watched.

“If you look at the hard numbers in there, you can see year-after-year where we were spending more than we were bringing in,” Vloedman said.

He added that, during the public forum on May 7, some inferred that the auditors should have caught the mistake. However, he asserted that the auditors “shouldn’t be thrown under the bus.”

Owens replied, “There’s no doubt in my mind that they did their job.”

Vloedman also stated that supervisors of county departments will have to respond to unforeseen circumstances out of their own budgets.

“We cannot just say, ‘Oh, well we’ll borrow some money over here or we’ll take it out of that department.’ It’s got to be hard and fast,” Vloedman said.

“They understand their budgets, and they know their limits, and you’re implying that they don’t,” Runnels said, adding that 90 percent of the county’s departments never exceed their budgets.

Vloedman replied that he isn’t faulting the departments, and he just doesn’t want them to be blindsided.

An audience member asked about the 911 fund.

Runnels explained that, when the county took over the fund, it was so flush that the entities paying into it were given a break. However, the payments weren’t resumed soon enough, which created a deficit.

Dr. Sarah Laiosa expressed support for the court.

“I feel like you guys are listening and really talking to people. I appreciate that. I appreciate that you can work through our frustrations. You guys have super hard decisions to make [and] super difficult cuts to make, and I just think that there should be a lot of support for you guys right now for what you’re going through,” she said.

“Every comment was welcome. None of them were unwelcome in my view,” Harney County Commissioner Patty Dorroh said. “I could already see them getting their thoughts together about swallowing the pill and trying to figure it out, and that’s what’s going to save us.”

Harney County Roads Supervisor Eric Drushella said, “I agree 100 percent with what she just indicated. Again, roll the sleeves up, and let’s fix it.”

The court continued its conversation concerning the budget during meetings held May 9-10. Video recordings of the meetings can be found on the county’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/harneycounty/

The next budget meeting will be held Wednesday, May 15 at 8 a.m. If needed, there will be an additional meeting on May 21. These meetings, which will be located in Runnels’ office at the courthouse, are open to the public.

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The court approved and signed comments written to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service headquarters office supporting the agency’s proposed rule to remove protections for the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act.

Owens credited Caroline Lobdell for the court’s comments, as they were adapted from statements that she developed for the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association.

“We recognize that the gray wolf species has recovered across the West and needs to be removed from the endangered list. There are now more than 5,000 gray wolves in the United States, and more than 10 times that number in Canada. This far exceeds recovery targets set by the Endangered Species Act in Oregon. The gray wolf population is growing exponentially every year, growing from just one wolf in 2009 to over 137 wolves in 2019 in Oregon,” Owens said.

Dorroh agreed stating, “They’ve recovered. They’ve more than recovered.”

Owens added that, “Oregon has a strong Wolf Conservation and Management Plan, which protects the wolf while helping to address conflict between wolves and livestock. However, many of the tools in the Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management Plan are not available to farmers and ranchers on the [federally] listed two-thirds of the state. Delisting the gray wolf returns control over the species to the state, where it is already being managed by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.”

He said, “Harney County is one of those few counties where we’re split from state to federally listed, which gives our ranchers completely different options if there’s a wolf predation or even a wolf coming through.”

Owens said he’ll take a copy of the court’s comments to the upcoming Association of Oregon Counties meeting.

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In other business, the court:

• received public comment from Cheryl Smith;

• recognized Cheryl Runnels for her five years of service to the Harney County District Attorney’s Office;

• responded to Mitzi Defenbaugh’s request for a breakdown showing the highest-grossing industry in Harney County.

Owens provided a summary of Harney County’s 2017 agricultural census. He noted that the gross declined by about $7 million (compared with the 2012 census), but reported that agriculture is still the county’s number one industry;

• followed up with legal counsel concerning the possible imposition of a transient room/lodging tax.

“Anytime you go rent a motel room, you get this fee on top of your room rate,” Runnels explained during the previous county court meeting, adding that the tax would apply to any form of transient lodging, including motels, hotels, Airbnb rentals, etc.

The court was unsure whether it could impose the tax via ordinance.

During the May 8 meeting, Owens said, “Our legal counsel has informed us [that] it has to go to a vote of the people because we are a general law county.”

As a general law county, Harney County is governed by a judge and two commissioners, instead of a board of commissioners.

“If we were a board of commissioners, we could go through the board of commissioners and try to do a transient lodging tax without a vote of the people, but because of our county system, everything has to go to a vote of the people,” Owens said;

• approved Ordinance 2019-85 in the matter of implementing authority to enforce the subsurface program delegated to Harney County by the state of Oregon for onsite septic systems.

Runnels explained that the ordinance is needed so that Harney County can provide onsite septic services for Grant County.

Owens noted that Harney County might also begin providing onsite septic services for Wheeler County.

“That would be 10 more contracts, which would really help the building program come real close to being revenue neutral,” he said;

• discussed Public Notices of Water Use Requests;

• received a letter from Jack Bauer regarding a county road that intersects his property.

Bauer asked for permission to lock the north and south gates when the road is muddy and when his cattle are in the field that the road passes through. Bauer noted that area cattle operators know the combination to his locks, and he offered to post his phone number so others can call if they need to drive on the road when it’s locked due to the presence of cattle.

“This is basically how we have been operating the last couple of years, and it has worked well,” Bauer wrote.

Runnels said he could support a temporary closure due to muddy road conditions, but closing the road for cattle could set an unwanted precedent.

The court will attempt to locate a written policy pertaining to the matter and follow up with Bauer;

• discussed the Crane cinder pit, which the Arnold family donated to the county for citizen use.

Cinders are for noncommercial use only, and a maximum of 500 yards can be taken annually by each private entity. Anyone interested in accessing the pit is supposed to obtain a permit and key from Administrative Assistant Kerry Opie at the courthouse. A deposit is required to obtain the key, but it’s refunded when the key is returned.

Runnels said only a couple of people are capable of hauling the material, so many are bypassing the county’s established process and accessing the pit through the haulers.

Drushella suggested “rebooting” the program by asking everyone to return the keys to the courthouse. Drushella, Opie, and the court will meet with the haulers to develop a plan to move forward;

• visited constituents in the Fields area May 8. The court will visit Riley and Drewsey in the fall;

• rescheduled its May meetings.

The next meeting of the Harney County Court will be held Wednesday, May 22, at 10 a.m. in Runnels’ office at the courthouse.

The court’s regular meeting schedule will resume in June. The court regularly meets the first and third Wednesday of every month at 10 a.m. in Runnels’ office.