The Williams County Commission voted to approve the 2010 budget and approved the mechanical construction contract for plumbing and heating for the new Northwest Youth Assessment Center Tuesday morning.

The 2010 Williams County budget before the commission was the result of hearings in August and September.

For the year 2010, the county would have a total General Fund of $5,208,843.

Under the budget in its final form, they would have an estimated $598,890 cash on hand.

The budget before the commission on Tuesday also featured a total Road and Bridge budget of $3,414,290, with an estimated $431,353 cash on hand. As for the Social Welfare budget, in 2010 it would be set at $2,727,534, with an estimated $296,890.83 on hand. The General Fund was an increase over 2009. The General Fund for 2009 was $4,991,676.

Commissioner Raymond Schmidt said it seemed like a fairly straightforward budget, but just wanted to know one general question.

"The question arises how are these departments doing overall, in projecting their budgets?" asked Schmidt.

County Auditor Beth Innis replied that overall, the various departments are doing a pretty good job at budgeting properly.

"The General Fund, overall, is doing fine. It has more money in it that it had last year," said Innis.

Commission Chairman Dan Kalil added he thought for the most part the budget seemed fine.

"Social Services is the only thing I'm really concerned about," said Kalil.

Kalil was referring to large increases in the cost of social services in recent years, an issue he expressed concern about during the initial budget hearings in August.

Innis was asked if there was anything major to note in the budget.

She replied that $100,000 had been transferred into the General Fund for the Youth Assessment Center. This was a move of funds that isn't done too frequently.

After further discussion, the commission voted unanimously to pass the 2010 Williams County budget unanimously by a five votes to none margin.

In an unrelated matter, the commission voted to approve the mechanical construction contract for the new Northwest Youth Assessment Center.

The contract was awarded to Selid Plumbing & Heating, Inc. of Williston. The contract is for approximately $80,000.

The vote was unanimous.

Selid Plumbing & Heating was the lone bid for the mechanical construction project. The general and electrical construction projects had been awarded during a special meeting the previous Thursday.

Williams County architect Jeff Morrau had asked at the time to hold off on awarding the mechanical construction project until Tuesday's meeting.

Morrau said at the time he had wanted to speak with Selid a bit further and see if there was any way to solicit more bids, but wound up being satisfied with Selid after further discussion.

"It would be most beneficial to work with them instead of soliciting other bids. We reviewed the bid over the weekend and were able to reduce it down to about $80,000," said Morrau.

Morrau said the bid was originally for slightly over $114,000, so bringing it down to around $80,000 was much better.

Awarding them the contract, he said, would be best if they wanted to get the project completed on time.

Commissioner Schmidt said he was fairly satisfied with being able to bring down the costs, even though the project was running a bit over what they'd set out for it to cost.

"It's really beyond our control," said Schmidt.

In other business, the commission:

Voted to approve salary adjustments for Chief Deputy Treasurer Patti Ogurchak and Facilities Supervisor George Pederson.

The commission also voted to approve job description changes for members of the Information Technology Department. The votes were unanimous.

Voted to approve having an ATM machine installed in the Law Enforcement Center. The vote was unanimous.