CHIMACUM — Jefferson County commissioners discussed a possible mineral severance tax on Thursday and agreed that a sewage system would spur more construction in the Tri-Area and help the increasingly constrained county budget at a retreat held at the county-owned Northwest Kiwanis Camp on the edge of Beausite Lake.

The retreat offered an opportunity for commissioners, with the assistance of Allen Sartin, director of Central Services, and county Administrator John Fischbach, to explore the intracacies of the county budget and what its pitfalls are and where future remedies might exist.

“We’re here to see where things are today and if you’re satisfied with where things are, or if you want to make changes,” Sartin said to commissioners Phil Johnson, D-Port Townsend, David Sullivan, D-Cape George, and Pat Rodgers, R-Brinnon.

Sartin, who acted as moderator for much of the retreat, handed out stacks of paper that, through itemized lists and pie charts, explained the state of the county budget.

Sartin said that because of internal transfers between funds, the county’s $43.8 million 2006 budget only has the spending power of a $36.3 million budget.

The buzzword that has been used frequently to characterize the county budget — a train wreck waiting to happen — was not mentioned, but the idea was approached using different terminology.

“We’re mainly operating on the constraint management method,” said Sartin.

“The constraint being money.”

One of the handouts Sartin provided read “techniques for managing with inadequate revenue.”

Some of the key techniques listed were to increase fees and taxes, reduce programs, only fund critical items and impose new taxes.

These were only options for commissioners to ponder, not act on at the retreat.