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The INDEPENDENT, May 18, 2006
The
INDEPENDENT
Published on the first and third Thursdays of each month by
The Independent, LLC, 725 Bridge St., Vernonia, OR 97064.
Phone/Fax: 503-429-9410. Publisher Clark McGaugh,
clark@the-independent.net • Managing Editor Rebecca Mc-
Gaugh, rebecca@the-independent.net • Editor Noni Ander-
sen, noni@the-independent.net
Opinion
Can River Fest survive?
2005 River Fest was drippy with rain, but still well at-
tended. There were 44 watercraft launched down the
Nehalem, 700 ducks in the rubber ducky race, a chili
cook-off contest, a home brew contest, a car bash and
other activities available.
This year, the rain was absent but so were the
crowds and the activities. Only 15 watercraft left the
launch site, only 484 ducks floated down Rock Creek.
There were no contests and, as can be seen in the pic-
ture on page one, not many people were out enjoying
the festival.
Does this mean River Fest is dead? Maybe. Remem-
ber that River Fest, Jamboree, and Salmon Festival
are all put together and pulled off by volunteers. The
volunteers for River Fest undoubtedly worked hard and
did their best to deliver a quality event for the commu-
nity. Also, all three Vernonia festivals donate proceeds
to area charities. No River Fest in the future would
mean no proceeds for those non-profits.
This might be a good opportunity to bring in an out-
side event coordinator to see if professional help can
enhance River Fest with new ideas, new fundraising
opportunities, and to keep the event on the calendar.
An event coordinator has the expertise and a vested in-
terest (they want to make money, too) in making sure
that any event they work on has interesting activities,
good sponsorship, ample advertising, and that it will
raise money for the non-profits in town.
Vernonia Festival Committee Chairperson Randy
Parrow has indicated a willingness to sit down with an
event coordinator and hear what such a venture might
have to offer River Fest and Vernonia. Stay tuned.
Community misses out
On May 5, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., the three Ver-
nonia superintendent candidates were all avail-
able to the public. During this two hour period, ad-
mittedly held during a time when some are not yet
home from work, only one community member
took the opportunity to meet and talk to these peo-
ple. Many profess to care what happens to our
school district, though all but one missed this
chance to discuss their ideas with the highest
school official in Vernonia. Too bad.
A brief primer on public agency budgeting
It is budget time for local and county govern-
ment agencies, so here is The INDEPENDENT’s
annual explanation of basic budget procedures.
All city, county, school and fire district budg-
ets, and all agencies with budgets that must be
reported to the state, follow the same basic for-
mat. Revenues and expenses are accounted for
in a variety of funds, each of which has a defined
purpose. The purpose may be to keep track of
funds allocated for specific projects, such as
building a reserve for replacement of buildings or
other infrastructure, or to track the revenues and
expenses of a department. Usually, a General
Fund serves as the main depository of revenue
and is the ‘checkbook’ for expenses.
At an agency’s first budget meeting, a budget
message is delivered and, usually, the budget
document is presented to the budget committee
for review. The budget document is divided into
separate sections for each fund. The budget
message is presented by a budget officer ap-
pointed by each agency’s governing board. The
budget officer may be the administrative head, a
finance clerk, or anyone else deemed to be the
appropriate presenter.
Each section, or fund, of the budget document
shows anticipated revenues and proposed ex-
penses for each account within the fund. The
proposed amount is followed by a blank column
that will be filled by the budget committee’s rec-
ommended budget. These committees are usu-
ally fairly large and most operate under Robert’s
Rules of order to make agreed upon changes in
the budget.
The recommended budget then goes before
the governing body, ie., the board of directors,
council, etc., for final decisions. The final column
in a budget document is for the adopted budget,
as voted on by the governing body. Also includ-
ed in the budget document are audited figures
showing actual revenues and expenditures for
the prior two fiscal years (In this case for fiscal
years 2003-2004 and 2004-2005), as well as the
adopted budget for the current fiscal year (2005-
2006).
Resources (income) are presented first in
each budget account and include the anticipated
amount of each revenue source that goes into a
specific fund, such as taxes, fees, grants, etc.
Expenditures for each fund are also itemized,
depending on the anticipated uses, such as per-
sonnel, travel, materials and services, capital
outlay or contingency. A special category includ-
ed in the expenditure portion, the “unappropriat-
ed ending balance” is intended to provide
enough cash carryover to last until resources
start coming in for the new budget year. State
law requires balanced budgets, therefore, total
anticipated resources must equal total planned
expenditures.
Because budget documents are large, they
are condensed for publication. Only the totals for
each major category (personal services, debt
service, capital outlay, etc.) are printed in your lo-
cal newspaper. This makes the document hard
to understand, particularly when several funds
are combined into one aggregate budget. All
budget committee meetings are open to citizens.