WALLACE — The Shoshone County Commissioners met Thursday morning for a budget workshop, reviewing spending plans for several of the county's smaller departments and expenditures ahead of formal budget adoption in September. 

On the agenda were budgets for liability insurance, the self-insurance fund, public health, the historical society, junior college, parks, weed control, snowmobile grooming, waterways, the fish hatchery, the airport and building maintenance. 

The workshops allow commissioners to review budgets individually, make adjustments and familiarize themselves with spending plans before adopting the county budget. While no formal action is taken during the workshops, for many of the smaller budgets, Thursday's discussion may be the last before final approval. 

Discussion of the parks and building maintenance budgets was continued to a future meeting. 

Two of the larger line items reviewed on Thursday, the county's liability insurance through the Idaho Counties Risk Management Program, or ICRMP, and the self-insurance fund, were the only budgets that included year-over-year increases. 

ICRMP is a member-owned risk pool created by Idaho local governments in 1985 to provide property and casualty coverage, risk management services and related support to counties and other public entities. 

The county's ICRMP cost increased by $5,700, bringing the total proposed expenditure to $290,705. 

The rising cost reflects a national trend among public entity risk pools and insurers, which have been hit by higher claims expenses, increased property losses, inflation and sharply higher reinsurance costs in a prolonged hard insurance market. Those increases are often felt at the local level, where entities such as rural school districts and counties face higher insurance costs. 

"I don't think there's anything we can do about that," Commissioner Jeff Zimmerman said. 

Commissioner Dave Dose isn't so sure.  

The county is currently required to maintain $10,000 on hand to cover its insurance deductible. Dose asked whether there was a way to reduce the deductible amount. 

Deputy Clerk Timmie Hunter, who attended the meeting in place of Lori Osterberg, did not have an immediate answer. Dose told the board he would contact ICRMP to determine whether the county has any options for the deductible.  

The self-insurance fund, which covers the county's dental insurance, is proposed to increase by $10,000, from $75,000 to $85,000. 

According to Hunter, Osterberg left notes indicating that actual county spending for fiscal year 2026 totaled $82,000, $7,000 more than budgeted. The proposed increase would help prevent a similar shortfall in the coming year. 

Like other Idaho counties, Shoshone County must fund certain services required by state law, including public health district assessments and noxious weed control. Both proposed budgets decreased slightly. The county is proposing $64,179 for weed control, a decrease of $1,000, and $98,160 for public health, a decrease of $1,164. 

Commissioners typically review the smaller budgets before turning their attention to larger county offices and departments, which often require multiple meetings and, in recent years, difficult cuts. 

"They're small budgets," Zimmerman said previously. "Some of them never change." 

He's not wrong. 

Of the 10 budgets discussed Thursday, six remained unchanged from the previous year: $7,439 for the fish hatchery; $75,162 for the airport; $29,663 for waterways; $40,700 for snowmobile grooming; $40,000 for junior college; and $7,000 for the historical society.