Gizmos and thingamajigs
Listed under Information Technology are scores of electronic gizmos such as copiers, laptop computers, printers and a thingamajig that turns out photo-ID key cards for county employees.

It cost $8,085 when it was bought in 2005.

Intriguing names attach to some of the equipment, the most exotic including a Lanoptics Guardian Agent worth $5,683 when it was bought in 2004 and the Cisco Ethernet Backbone Chassis, which sounds vaguely oxymoronic.

The county paid $44,318 for whatever it is in 2005.

At the opposite end of the sophistication scale are the vault toilets at Cline Spit ($12,152) and Pillar Point ($23,781), not to mention - and please don't - a $5,500 sewage ejector at the juvenile detention facility.

Some divisions are best grasped as totals. Improvements and remodeling at the Clallam County Fairgrounds, for instance, total $1,470,487.

Wealth of weapons
Upgrades funded by the real estate excise tax - earmarked for capital improvements - range from $5,027 for a grandstand public address system at the fairgrounds to $638,297 for renovation to the Salt Creek Recreation Area.

The excuse tax projects total $3,451,425.

Maybe the most surprising statistic is the Clallam County Sheriff's Department's sheer firepower, including the .45 caliber Thompson submachine gun that's on the books for $195.

Besides that and the nine ceremonial M1 Garand rifles are two-dozen M16 rifles, 42 Remington shotguns, 70 Glock semi-automatic pistols and miscellaneous firearms carried by deputies or stored in the sheriff's armory.

The state requires the weapons to be listed individually, no matter what they cost.

For those of you who are keeping score, the firearms total $40,133.

Bullets are extra.

 

. . . while Jefferson County's worth more than $12 million

By Evan Cael, Peninsula Daily News


PORT TOWNSEND - Jefferson County owns at least $12,496,845.64 worth of stuff. That's not everything, though.

The Jefferson County commissioners last week certified the county equipment inventory through Dec. 31.

That amount does not include all capitalized assets.

State statute does not require counties with less than 50,000 population to file all capitalized assets, said Jefferson County Auditor Donna Eldridge.

Jefferson County's population is about 28,100, Eldridge said.

The amount does include depreciated values from the original purchase price.

The entire inventory is filed in Eldridge's office on the second floor of the county courthouse building, 1820 Jefferson St., Port Townsend, for any who might want to page through it.

Dump tops list
Topping the list of county-owned items included in the inventory is the county's transfer station, commonly called the dump, which is valued at $716,880.07.

Next is the county's software system for all it's computers, valued at $444,669.16.

Another of the more significant items is a street sweeper worth $135,767.81.

The county owns other large vehicles that surpass a $100,000 price tag.

A 1994 cat grader is valued at $130,290.16.

A 2007 dump truck is valued at $128,290.88, and one from the year before is valued at $122,976.70.

As for smaller items, the Auditor's Office has a $643 IBM typewriter and a $595 zoom lens for a 35mm camera.

County Administrator John Fischbach sits at a U-shaped desk valued at $1,880.

Yale letter opener
County Treasure Judi Morris sits in a $510 chair and her office has an item listed as a Yale letter opener, valued at $1,200.

District Court has a courtroom speaker phone valued at $1,500 and a $3,000 sliding filing system.

Juvenile and Family Court Services has one 1995 van valued at $14,000 and another 1995 van valued at $7,596.

The inventory list shows the Sheriff's Office has a $22,000 finger printer, a $29,870 boat and an accompanying marine electronics package valued at $13,767.

The Sheriff's Office also has 20 M-16 rifles with cases that have totally depreciated.

Animal Services has a $2,785 cremation processor.

Commissioner clerk Julie Matthes sits at a $632 desk.

Al Scalf, director of the Department of Community Development sits at a cherry computer desk valued at $563.