FROM THE AUDITOR

Since my last report, your Financial Services team completed the 2024 Mason County preliminary budget.

I had the honor of formally submitting this budget to the Board of County Commissioners on Sept. 12 and it includes total projected expenditures of $69,149,840. Budget workshops with the board and various department heads are scheduled for Oct. 3 and 4, where adjustments to requested expenditures may be made.

The county commissioners will also hold a public hearing on Dec. 4 prior to finalizing the budget.

I encourage you to attend the workshops and the public hearing. It’s a great way to stay engaged with how the county plans to spend your tax dollars. You can find a copy of the preliminary budget at http://www.masoncountywa.gov/commissioners/2024-budget-information.php.

Land fraud

Have you heard of land fraud or deed fraud? Deed fraud is reportedly a growing phenomenon across the country. At this time, we don’t have statistics for this crime in Mason County. While Mason County is not responsible for the detection or investigation of recorded fraudulent documents, we want to be proactive in helping Mason County property owners protect their real estate assets. With that, your Recording Department team is preparing to introduce “Fraud

Notify” service from our document recording system supplier Tyler Technologies.

The auditor’s office will make this service available for free to subscribers who want to receive automated email alerts when documents are recorded using their personal or property information.

Subscribers can then determine whether the recorded documents are valid and respond accordingly. Stay tuned for more information on the auditor’s recording website at http://www.masoncountywa.gov/auditor/recording.php.

Elections

On the elections front, your Elections Department team conducted the 2023 primary election with excellence. Voters in Fire Protection District 5 (Central Mason Fire and EMS) passed a measure to increase the size of the district’s board of commissioners from three to five, while voters in Fire Protection District 12 recalled their commissioners.

In Fire Protection District 16, voters rejected Proposition 1, the six-year emergency medical services levy (which required a 3/5 supermajority) and Proposition 2, the property tax levy lid lift. Voters advanced Shelton City Council Position 1 candidates George Blush and Tristen Smith and Fire District 12 Position 2 candidates Nicholas Jones and Jennifer Jutson to the general election. You will find results, data and analysis on the auditor’s election website, masoncountywaelections.gov.

As for the November general election, ballots were mailed to Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act voters Sept. 22.

Regular ballots will be mailed Oct. 10. With that, our work to keep the voter registration database current and correct never ends. It is important to remember that as a registered voter, maintenance of the voter registration database starts with you. Please take time to check your voter registration and mailing address information in VoteWA and update it if necessary. You can access your registration information through the voter portal at http://www.voter.votewa.gov/WhereToVote.aspx.