PORT TOWNSEND — The Board of Jefferson County Commissioners unanimously passed budget appropriations totaling $465,957.
One of the appropriations at Monday’s hearing, which was not a part of the county’s schedule, had to be approved by this Friday.
“The impact to the general fund of one-time expenditures is $274,312, but that is offset by $79,955 in revenue, which is a grant for election security from the state Secretary of State that we’re able to use to help offset that cost,” said Jefferson County Finance Manager Judy Shepherd. “We had a deadline to get this done by June 13. So, hurry up and go fast, right?”
The almost $80,000 grant was received by the county and the same amount has been appropriated to the central services’ fund 506.
The election security money will pay into software services from Microsoft 365.
“I think the reason this qualifies for election security is because there’s better security within 365 that is going to go towards that election security,” Shepherd said.
The biggest expense is moving the county to Microsoft 365, which will cost $191,645 this year.
“This gives us a lot of heightened security profiles and allows us to create a more collaborative environment for our staff,” said Shawn Fredrick, director of central services. “Our goal there is to decrease the amount of time it takes for us to work collaborateively across those divisional lines.”
An appropriation of $85,500 was made to support the emergency shelter, currently operated by Bayside Housing and Services out of the American Legion building, 209 Monroe St. in Port Townsend.
The funds would pay for services through the end of June, at which point the current contract expires.
The expiring agreement and finding a replacement location or extending the current agreement were part of the focus of a discussion at the three commissioners’ May 27 meeting.
The Housing Fund Board also moved to support keeping the shelter open, commissioner Greg Brotherton said.
“I did talk with Bob Saring, (manager of) the American Legion last week,” Brotherton said. “They are excited as well to keep it open. They wanted to take a first stab at modifying the contract with the county. To add six months and then month to month until July was what we talked about. We’ll see what comes up. We’re going to get it back early this week.”
An appropriation of $61,500 was made to pay for professional services from Prothman and Braun Consulting.
Shepherd said the county had planned to do only three budget appropriations this year, at the end of the first, third and fourth quarters. Shepherd said Monday the department likely will return to scheduling four appropriations in 2026.
“I’m seeing that it didn’t work very well,” Shepherd said. “Sometimes you have to just pivot from those ideas and go back to what is working.”
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@sequimgazette.com.
