EVANSTON — “I’m glad it’s over,” Uinta County Commissioner Craig Welling said of the arduous process of balancing and eventually passing the county budget for the 2018 fiscal year.

The budget has been a subject of concern for many months now. On the evening of July 17, the Uinta County Commissioners held a public hearing concerning the budget. The following day, on Tuesday, July 18, the budget was unanimously approved.

Three words have been repeated many times in the weeks leading up to  balancing this year’s budget: deficits, declines and cuts. 

“We’ve had to do a lot of things that aren’t pleasant,” Welling said. “But we got it figured out to a way that will work. It’s a relief really.” 

One major source of income for the county comes via mill levies, largely based on property taxes. The county receives 12 mills in total. One of those mills is allocated to the funding of the much discussed library project. The single library mill totals more than $355,000. The remaining 11 county mills are used to fund the many other facets of the county budget. Together, they come to a total of $3.1 million. 

Another source of county revenue comes from the federal government’s Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) fund. Because this funding is approved on a year-by-year basis, it restricts the county’s ability to plan for the future.  

“They mentioned earlier that the (county) employees haven’t had a cost-of-living increase in seven years and so that’s disheartening,” Welling said of the many hard choices the commissioners faced in the pursuit of a balanced budget. 

The decline of the oil, coal and gas industries has placed a strain on property tax revenue and, in turn, every facet of the county government. The Uinta County Sheriff’s Office, library board, clerk’s office, attorney’s office and the county fair board — just to name a few — have all faced the grueling cuts associated with the struggling state and local economy. 

Cutting the printing of its fair booklet as well as the popular county fair concert has allowed the fair board to save more than $54,000 on this year’s proposed budget. Some additional expenses added to the fair budget were increases in health insurance and $3,600 to be used to pay for saw dust. For the past several years South and Jones Lumber has donated 12 dump-truck loads of sawdust to the county fair, but because of an upturn in demand, this year the company is unable to. 

The county budget message wasn’t all doom and gloom, though. Officials are collectively hopeful that future endeavors might bring brighter days to Evanston. 

Part of the county’s written budget message looked to recent events for hope.

“We are hopeful the Haystack Coal Mine, purchased by Westmoreland, will bring much needed revenue in the coming years. We are also hopeful the ICE detention facility will be located within Uinta County and will help boost our economic picture with property tax revenue and the creation of jobs.”

There has been some concern expressed over the possible building of the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) detention facility in Uinta County to which Welling said, “I’m happy to see them both (Westmoreland Coal and the detention facility). I don’t think either one of them is going to affect the way of life or the quality of life. It’s progress and it’s a benefit for the county in the long run and to every citizen because it’s going to increase our funding to where services can improve.”

In the end, a motion was made by Welling, seconded by commissioner Wendell Fraughton and passed by all three commissioners to adopt the 2018 Uinta County Budget. 

Although the three commissioners appeared happy to have this resolution behind them, they were melancholy about the retirement of Uinta County Clerk Lana Wilcox.  

“Just to note that this will probably be the last time we’ll have Lana up talking to us,” commission chair Eric South said. “It’s a sad day for that but a happy day. We want you to know that we appreciate the job you’ve done. You took care of us.”

Wilcox tearfully responded, “It’s been fun. I’ve enjoyed it, every moment of it I had. You know, we don’t always agree but we’re very respectful of each other and we’ve been able to make it fun and still get our business done. So I’ve really enjoyed working with you guys and with everybody at the county.”

There will be a retirement party and open house for Wilcox from 3:30-6:30 p.m. on Friday, July 28, at the Uinta County Complex.