PORT ANGELES — To clear up budget confusion, Clallam County would charge the city of Port Angeles a fixed annual fee for District Court cases under a proposed agreement before the three commissioners.

The interlocal agreement would take effect next year.

The current fee is based on the number and type of case filed each month, and the method has caused budget uncertainty and confusion over billing, County Administrator Jim Jones said.

A fixed rate, which the commissioners will consider today, is based on a rolling, three-year average of Port Angeles filings in District Court divided into monthly installments.

Language in the agreement was reviewed by county and city staff.

“This will protect the city of Port Angeles as much as us,” Jones said in Monday’s work session.

Over the past three years, Port Angeles has averaged 2,055 District Court cases per year. That’s 14.9 percent of the 13,820 cases that Clallam County District Court has averaged.

Under the proposal, Port Angeles would pay the county $10,057.50 per month beginning in January.

$810,000 budget

Clallam County’s preliminary budget includes $810,000 for District Court.

Also on Monday, the commissioners reviewed a memorandum of understanding with the Crescent, Cape Flattery and Quillayute Valley school districts for mass vaccination clinics.

The school districts will provide office space, office equipment and staff to help the county’s Health and Human Services Department and Emergency Management Division vaccinate students for influenza.

Similar memorandums with other school districts are pending.

In other action, the board today will consider authorizing the sale of two vacant homes on Towne Road near Sequim.

A prospective buyer has until November 2010 to move or salvage the structures. The county bought the property last spring to move back the dikes along the constricted lower Dungeness River.

Allowing the river to return to its natural, meandering form will lessen the flood risk in the Dungeness area and improve habitat for salmon, county officials say.

Property sale

The property sale will take place on Nov. 13 at 10 a.m. in the lobby of the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles.

A notice of bids to convert the lower level of the Third Street Building in Port Angeles into county office space was postponed indefinitely because of the looming Nov. 3 general election.

If the property tax ballot Initiative 1033 passes, Clallam County will toss its preliminary budget and make even deeper cuts.

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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.