Hood River County Commissioners have decided to use $31,000 in contingency funds to keep the County’s Veterans Service Office open through the current fiscal year.  The County had thought it could use nearly $81,000 in state funding to operate the office, but was informed that state law requires the County to maintain its current funding level for the program to receive those monies.  County staff did recommend closing the office, but Administrator Jeff Hecksel said commissioners decided not to do that, in part because that had not been considered in budget discussions during the spring.  The Commission will look at the subject again when putting together the budget for fiscal year 2019-20.