PORT ANGELES — Clallam County’s proposed 2004 budget comes with good news to county employees — no layoffs are anticipated.
“We have enough revenues to cover our current programs, but we’re right on that edge,” county Administrator Dan Engelbertson said Wednesday, talking about his initial work with county department heads in reaching a $61.6 million budget proposal.
Meanwhile, county Commissioner Mike Chapman, R-Port Angeles, said he would not oppose a 1 percent property tax increase this year as he did last year, which delayed county budget approval.
“Without that 1 percent property tax the 4-H program might well be on the chopping block,” said Chapman, who is expected to seek re-election next year. “I wasn’t going to be the commissioner who cut 4-H.”
Clallam County 4-H members last December picketed the courthouse in Port Angeles after Chapman suggested deep cuts to the budget of the county office of the Washington State University Cooperative Extension Service, which assists 4-H groups throughout the county.
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The rest of the story appears in the Thursday Peninsula Daily News Clallam County edition.