The county is paying about $192,000 to have a study on the future impact to the county from annexations and incorporations. The county will pay Henderson, Young & Co. the money to not only do the study, but develop a model the county can use in the future when more data is collected.

The two phases of the project include looking at all of the county’s 10 urban growth areas. The study will look at revenues from the different taxes and fees and the expenses involved in being the government for the area.

The second phase will focus on Silverdale, using a range of possible boundaries from the smallest surrounding the commercial core to using the entire Silverdale UGA boundaries.

All three commissioners favored the study, in large part because it’s something that can be used again.

Josh Brown, county commissioner, said the county still does not know how much it will be affected by possible future annexations, the biggest one being Kitsap’s chief financial district, Silverdale. “We’re somewhat flying blind,” Brown said. “To be able to have the replicable model to do this analysis is not only going to serve this board well, but future boards.”

Jan Angel, county commissioner, agreed. “We’ve got a tight budgtet now and we’re not going to wait for surprises,” she said. “You can’t have good planning without good data, and hopefully we’re going to have good data.”

Brown and fellow commissioner Steve Bauer also said the information will be valuable for residents within areas proposed for annexation or incorporation. The study and the model that can be used in the future will allow residents to see some of the financial realities of becoming citified.