EDITOR’S NOTE: This report has been corrected to reflect that Clallam County earns about 0.9 percent interest on its investments.
PORT ANGELES — There may be a better way for Clallam County to invest its reserves, the three commissioners agreed Monday.
The board directed County Administrator Jim Jones to formulate a proposal for investing excess general and other fund reserves to spur the local economy.
Board Chairman Jim McEntire floated three ideas: a one-year sales tax holiday for small, single-purpose funds, invest in non-county projects that help citizens and to set aside a pot of money for large capital projects.
“We, the county, have an abnormally high fund balance in our general fund this year due to a combination of factors,” McEntire said.
“I have long been of the opinion that money does little good just sitting in a bank.”
McEntire said his thinking on the issue is “not fully developed” but wanted to “come up with a methodology for doing this.”
Commissioner Mike Chapman said he had a recent epiphany that the county’s long-held tradition of austerity may have been the wrong approach.
In order to remove politics from the discussion, Chapman announced Monday that he would not seek a fifth four-year term.
Chapman suggested that the county invest a portion of its reserves into infrastructure development and organizations with direct ties to the economy.
“Is this economy in such a desperate shape that it is time to look differently? I for one am willing to look differently,” Chapman said.
“But I’m only willing to look differently if we go big.”
Clallam County built up a reserve fund when the economy was humming and used those reserves to maintain core services after the recession hit.
The general fund reserve has a balance of about $12.3 million, of which $7.5 million is restricted for emergencies.
The county has another $2 million in its so-called Opportunity Fund, a portion of state sales tax used for infrastructure projects and personnel in economic development offices.
Clallam is one of the few counties in the state with no debt. It earns about 0.9 percent interest on its investments.
“Governments hold every dollar we get,” Chapman said.
“We hoard. After the great recession, there was a huge political movement worldwide of austerity, of government saying: ‘We want to make sure we can do what need to do and we don’t want to have to raise taxes during that process.’ And I fully bought into that.”
Chapman said he changed his perspective after researching the issue and hearing a series of podcasts from noted economists debunking austerity.
“I’ve been thinking about this a lot,” Chapman said.
“I’ve had an epiphany. We’re not helping our community sitting on [reserves], and I think you can make the argument we probably have between $4 million and $8 million of excess reserves necessary. We’re getting no interest. It’s not helping our economy.”
After more than a decade of austerity, Clallam County’s economy is worse than the state average and twice as worse as the national average, Chapman said.
“So we do have an opportunity,” he said, adding: “Either we go bold, or let’s not do it at all.”
Commissioner Bill Peach said he liked the idea of working with an agency like the United Way to distribute excess reserves.
“The good news is because they are so rigid, the money is cared for,” Peach said.
Commissioners today will consider a request to provide $150,000 to the Clallam County Economic Development Council for personnel.
McEntire and Peach have supported the appropriation, with Chapman opposed.
The financial discussion was preceded by a proposal from Serenity House of Clallam County and the Port Angeles, Sequim and Forks food banks.
Serenity House is about $395,000 in the red, officials said, and the food banks need a combined $47,000 to fund a pilot project to get food, especially fruits and vegetables, to needy families countywide.
Commissioners said they would consider contracting with Serenity House and the food banks in a future meeting.
In other news, commissioners Monday authorized a 40-hour work week for 45 road maintenance employees and mechanics.
Road crews had previously been on a 37.5-hour work week like most non-Sheriff’s Office staffers.
Commissioners agreed to give County Engineer Ross Tyler the authority to implement a 40-hour work week when crews are in high demand in the late spring and summer.
Tyler said the county is about 30 miles behind on its chip seal maintenance schedule.
The board also granted a request from Treasurer Selinda Barkhuis to hire a cash handler/fiscal specialist employee.
Barkhuis said the shorthanded office needs the employee to keep the doors open to the pubic and to provide dual controls and a segregation of duties that protect taxpayer money.
Barkhuis campaigned in 2010 on a promise to improve internal controls at the Treasurer’s Office, which lost more than $600,000 in real estate excise taxes in an embezzlement scheme orchestrated by former treasury cashier Catherine Betts from June 2003 to May 2009.
Betts’ 2011 conviction was upheld on appeal.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
