Expenses outpace revenue

Greetings from the courthouse!

As I'm sure most of you have heard, we had a very difficult time balancing the 2016 budget. I feel that it is extremely important to share with you, the taxpayers, the struggles that your local governments are facing. I will speak to Lincoln County's situation (current expense, not public works) but these same issues affect your towns, fire districts, hospital districts, schools and any junior taxing district in the state of Washington.

There are several contributing factors to recent budget problems, but as I stated in my last column back in September, the under...