Auditor warns new state tax on personal services will raise county costs; clerk outlines 805-box scanning backlog and heavy caseload

Carolyn (last name not given), Cowlitz County auditor, told the Board during the budget workshop that a change in Washington state tax rules treating many “personal services” as taxable will increase costs for county operations and vendors. She said some existing contracts remain exempt until they expire, but that new and renewed contracts could be taxable.

Carolyn warned departments to watch for increases in recurring bills and said one concrete example is justice and security services: “So just on the whole justice security alone, it's gonna add about $45,000 a year to our bill,” a figure she gave when discussing how taxable treatment of personal services affects existing county contracts.

Carolyn also discussed association dues and representation. She said the county pays association billing centrally and that participation in statewide auditor conferences has been low: “Out of the 39 counties, 7 auditors were registered this year for Waco,” she said, describing low participation and the difficulty of deriving full value from a one‑size‑fits‑all billing model. She said the county is seeking guidance from the Department of Revenue on the tax changes and that some associations’ services are not meeting needs, prompting counties to consider alternatives including hiring dedicated lobbyists.

On vehicle licensing revenue, Carolyn said the county will see additional revenue from state licensing fee changes and that “we will see a dollar 50 increase on basic tab renewals,” which she said should amount to a “fairly significant increase” in licensing revenue when aggregated across all vehicle registrations.

Carolyn also noted a potential idea to shift some auditor salary costs into elections to reflect time spent on elections functions; she said that would add roughly $25,000 in elections costs and that she chose not to pass that cost on at this time.

Stacy, clerk of the superior court, presented the clerk’s office workload and records priorities. Stacy said the clerk’s office is responsible for all superior court records and that in 2024 the office “clerked over 23,469 hearings.” She said staff handled 1,939 exhibits, filed 4,605 cases and processed hundreds of thousands of documents and emails — she cited more than 204,000 emails handled last year — and that the front counter averages about 100 customers a day.

Stacy described an ongoing records-conversion project and said the office has 805 boxes of material staged for scanning. She explained the unit’s scanning workflow — a scanner, a proof reader, and protocols to mark “poor original” when pages do not scan clearly — and emphasized the permanency of superior court records: “Superior court records are kept permanently,” she said, noting some historical materials are transferred to the State Archives.

Neither the auditor nor the clerk presented formal motions or votes at the workshop; both offered budget updates and cautioned that state-level changes (taxation of services and licensing fee updates) would influence final county budget figures. Staff said they will continue to follow guidance from the Department of Revenue and the State Auditor's Office and will return with revised figures for commissioner action.