Communication issues highlight Shoshone County budget workshop

WALLACE — A Shoshone County budget workshop got contentious Wednesday morning as concerns over budget cuts went largely unanswered.  

Shoshone County interim clerk Peggy White presented Commissioners Jeff Zimmerman and Dave Dose her recommended budget. However, these recommendations came in the form of two large binders and not a public presentation, which was what many attendees, including Dose, had expected.  

White’s recommendation came five days sooner than what is required by Idaho Code, which stipulates that the board must have the suggested budget by the first Monday of August.  

The meeting was moved from the commissioner’s chambers to the district courtroom to accommodate the number of residents who attended the meeting. After White explained where she was in the budget process, the meeting was opened to public comment, which is where things got heated.  

Among the attendees were roughly a dozen law enforcement officers, including Shoshone County Sheriff Holly Lindsey and many of her deputies. Lindsey had implored the public to attend due to concerns regarding significant cuts to the sheriff’s office’s budget.  

According to Lindsey, during a private meeting with White, she was told that the SCSO needed to cut $526,000 from its proposed budget. Lindsey also alleged that during the workshop White spoke about abolishing the pay matrix that had been created for the sheriff’s office and moving back to the countywide pay scale.  

During Wednesday’s hearing, many people asked White questions concerning SCSO’s budget. She said it wasn’t her place to comment at this juncture.  

“What I’m presenting today is just preliminary figures. It’s got nothing to do with the public at this point,” White said. “We’re not shutting down anything, any department. We’re not doing any of that at this point because the commissioners have not even been able to check the figures. There’s nothing here other than I’m presenting the books to the commissioners.”  

Dose attempted to assuage the tension by explaining his own confusion.

“There’s apparently a little misunderstanding, even on my part, on what we were presenting today,” Dose said. “I thought we were getting a little more information than this.”  

Commissioners will be meeting with each department to see where they can make adjustments or cuts before setting the county’s budget. 

When Lindsey spoke, she said the process being followed this year for budgeting is different than the way it was done in 2023. 

“Last year we had the opportunity to work with the clerk to determine what we could work with in our budget," she said. "We had several meetings before it came to the board to discuss that.”  

Before the meeting ended, Dose spoke of the challenges being faced by the county, centered around the finances, but he asked that people remain calm.  

“We got a lot of emotion in the room,” Dose said. “I know there’s been a lot of misinformation. We do have a new clerk this year from last year. There has been lots of confusion in the county. Our last clerk told us that we were short $1.7 million that we’ve been trying to work on. Our audits this year and our current clerk are saying that things might not be that bad."

Zimmerman also commented on the situation from last year and how it’s affecting this year’s process.  

“We’re looking really good countywide, except for the justice fund. We’re off some but we’re going to have to work on that,” Zimmerman said. 

The concerns went beyond just the figures within the budget, as Lindsey also said the clerk’s office ignored a request for information from the sheriff that forced her to submit a public records request to get a response. A copy of that request was not readily available, but White did acknowledge the allegation from the sheriff.   

The meeting ended with icy exchange between the two elected officials before Dose adjourned.  

"The lack of communication with your office has really just made it difficult,” Lindsey said to White. 

“The lack of communication between both offices, I would suggest,” White replied.  

“I would not,” Lindsey responded.  

The commissioners will be meeting with elected officials next week to review their departments' budgets before having another workshop.