Though Island County’s budget woes remain front-of-mind for county officials, many residents who attended a county commissioners’ forum Monday wanted to talk about their own troubles instead.

Some wondered when the county would get curbside recycling started, or wanted to know about water-quality monitoring efforts and septic system inspections. Others brought up long-simmering disputes such as the controversy over beach access in Greenbank or the new pump in Diking District 1.

Indeed, much of the meeting was spent on a controversy outside the control of county commissioners.

Diking District 1 commissioner John Shepard presented a petition signed by 120 residents of the diking district urging adoption of his proposal to increase the water-table level in the south pond near Useless Bay by at least 2.6 feet.

Shepard said the district’s new high-powered pump is draining too much water from the wetlands and disrupting the ecosystem.

“The levels of water are going down, from 3.75 feet in the winter to one foot today, and our residents are scared,” he said.

The $430,000 pump project, completed in late December, caused the formation of the Citizens in Support of Useless Bay Community, which maintains that assessments for the project are inequitable and that the pump may not be needed.

Last month, Shepard tried to get his fellow diking commissioners to approve his proposal, but it was rejected on a 2-1 vote.

Price Johnson said the problem may be about who’s in charge.

“There are complexities of jurisdiction in this matter. A junior taxing district has authority from the people who live within the district,” Price Johnson said, adding she would be willing to meet with Shepard later to discuss the matter in detail.

About 45 people attended the forum, which began with county officials recounting the strain of closing a $2 million budget gap, caused largely by falling investment revenues.

County Treasurer Linda Riffe described the problems she’s having finding adequate investment opportunities for county funds.

“As investments mature, it’s getting increasingly harder to get decent returns on new investments, provided we can even find them,” she said. “And it is going to get worse next year.”

Sheriff Mark Brown noted he’s juggling patrols in an effort to maintain quality response times.

“We’re the 10th largest county, but near the bottom in terms of staffing,” Brown said. “Our busiest time is the summer months and I’m monitoring calls closely.”

Clinton Water Commissioner Maury Hood asked about the status of the county’s program of monitoring wells. Public Health Director Keith Higman said that, with only a single employee available, checks on over 100 test wells have been mainly for water levels.

“The program is not unscathed, but is mainly intact,” Higman said. “We are trying, with a thin thread, to respond to public needs.”