Cowlitz County commissioners review 2026 personnel and salary requests, approve several department changes

Cowlitz County commissioners spent a Sept. 18 budget workshop reviewing dozens of personnel requests and title/salary reclassification proposals from county departments, approving several items while asking staff for follow-up on others.

The workshop, led by Kathy Funk Baxter, the county finance director, covered requests from district court, the treasurer, the county clerk, the auditor, juvenile probation, the office of public defense, the prosecuting attorney, the sheriff’s office, the coroner and information technology. Department leaders described new duties driven by state mandates, a planned statewide case-management rollout, grant funding changes and recruitment and retention problems tied to pay and working conditions.

Why it matters: The item-by-item personnel decisions will shape the county’s 2026 payroll and service capacity and could require using non‑recurring funds in the short term. Commissioners were explicit that some requests should be addressed during collective‑bargaining cycles or the formal budget process while also weighing operational risks if positions are cut.

District Court: reclassification and training workload Molly (district court administrator) asked the board to reclassify the district court supervisor to a higher salary grade because the supervisor oversees the entire clerk staff, handles courtroom and jury scheduling and administers interpreter scheduling (district court handles 86% of the county’s interpreter needs, Molly said). Molly warned the county will face a steep learning curve when a statewide case‑management system is adopted next year and that the supervisor’s workload will rise sharply; if the reclassification is not approved, Molly said she would likely need to use more overtime.

Treasurer: deputy treasurer to take foreclosure work Cowlitz County Treasurer Deborah Gardner asked to reclassify a deputy treasurer to add foreclosure and some collections duties and to split that position’s cost 50/50 between the general fund and the treasurer’s O&M (operations and maintenance) fund that pays for foreclosure expenses. Gardner said the change would save roughly $42,000 to the general fund through reallocation of IT and other overhead.

Superior Court clerk: broad reclassifications and…