Alva Review-Courier -

The Woods County Excise Board held a special meeting on Tuesday morning at the county courthouse. Chairman Joe Shirley called the meeting to order with board members Bob Seivert and Chris Olson attending. County Clerk Shelley Reed and County Assessor Renetta Benson were also at the meeting.

After approving minutes of the Sept. 20 meeting, the board members looked at the FY2023-2024 Estimate of Needs and Budget for Woods County. Reed said the budget totals $11,106,499.24, which is down about $816,000 from last year due to a decrease in sales tax. Olson made a motion, seconded by Seivert, to approve the document with all members voting in favor.

Benson presented the assessor’s budget for revaluation and FY2023-2024 Revaluation charges for the schools and health department. She said the budget is a little higher than it was last year. There also was no carryover like last year because the visual inspection was done earlier. Instead of hiring a full-time employee to do visual inspections, the county now hires a company to handle them. Benson said this eliminates costs for an employee including benefits. There is no training time and no fuel cost. The company brings in several people and gets the job done more quickly for less cost. The board approved her budget and revaluation charges.

Board members acknowledged the transfer of appropriations from Highway CIRB to Highway personal services in the amount of $15,227.16 for District 1 and $15,227.17 for District 2.

The board discussed and approved the resolution to establish a new fund, Homeland Security #1408. This was approved earlier by the county commissioners. Then they approved the transfer of $8,500 from general sales tax M & O to the Homeland Security fund. Reed explained that Emergency Management received a grant for that amount. It will be used to pay for Starlink satellite equipment and service. Money from the county account will be paid out, and the county will be reimbursed.