UMATILLA COUNTY — Umatilla County officially adopted a budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year at a Wednesday, June 3 board of commissioners meeting, but it remains far from finalized in the wake of COVID-19.

In total, the board of commissioners unanimously approved a budget of roughly $102.6 million, $95.6 million of which has been appropriated, and renewed its permanent tax rate of $2.8487 per $1,000 of assessed property value.

“Certainly due to circumstances that occurred, including the virus and the floods, there are bound to be changes as there is every year in the budget,” said Robert Pahl, chief financial officer for the county. “However, this is the budget as it was approved in April, but there will undoubtedly be changes moving forward.”

County officials have been preparing for anticipated budget shortfalls as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting usual funding sources, such as schools, taxpayers and county programs.

The uncertainty surrounding the budget has already put a pause on Sheriff Terry Rowan’s hopes of hiring two additional full-time employees for the county dispatch center.

“Our dispatch center is our first line attack of all issues, all things coming in,” Rowan said during the public comment portion of the June 3 meeting. “Quite frankly, we’re expending a tremendous amount of resources in overtime where really staffing would be the solution to mitigate that.”

Rowan highlighted that money from the state’s 911 fund and other outside sources have supplemented programs in the past.

However, Umatilla County Commissioner John Shafer, who previously served as a Umatilla County dispatch supervisor, voiced concern about the reliability of those funds.

“One of the challenges that I think the sheriff is referring to is in years past I’ve seen the state legislators rob that 911 fund,” Shafer said. “I want to make sure before we actually bring two dispatchers in, that the money from that 911 fund is actually there.”

The challenge is the Umatilla County dispatch center is contracted with and serves a number of police departments in the area, and the cost for those services will ultimately be impacted by the county’s decision on staffing.

“The budget sort of drives the formula by which we charge out to our partner agencies,” Rowan said. “So rather than them seeing in this upcoming budget cycle in which we’ll have to make some readjustments, our partner agencies are actually going to see a reduction in their amount that they’d pay for dispatch services.”

The county has already signed into its agreements with each department for the upcoming fiscal year, County Counsel Doug Olsen confirmed, but each will be notified that dispatch costs may need to be renegotiated later in the year.

Rowan also spoke to some uncertainty about staffing additional security deputies at the county courthouse in Pendleton, which now features screening on the first floor. But that move was made during the first weeks of the COVID-19 stay-home orders and was necessitated by the county’s duty to protect the health of employees and the public, so additional staffing may be subject to state reimbursement.

“It’s quite possible that we could get some assistance with that matter in the form of reimbursement,” said Umatilla County Commissioner George Murdock.