Chelan County Commissioners Tapping Reserves To Close 2019 Budget Gap

Chelan County Commissioner Keith Goehner joins Dan Langager on the KOHO Morning Show to talk about his final month as a commissioner. Goehner announced earlier this year he would not seek re-election to the county board, and instead seek office in the State House of Representatives – an election he won last month.

Before he leaves the commission seat to head to Olympia, they need to finalize the county’s 2019 budget, which has a million dollar gap. Goehner said they’ll have to go into county reserves for 2019, but isn’t sure that will be the case again in 2020. The Chelan County Jail’s need for additional staff and a decline of sales and property taxes in the county have made balancing the budget for next year a challenge, Goehner said.

Goehner also talks about the county’s new Community Development Director David Kuhl, funding for parks in the county and traffic-control staff during Leavenworth Christmas Lighting.