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Cowlitz County reviews IT budget, notes reserve balance and new hires
Summary
County finance staff told commissioners the IT operating fund has collected most internal service billings, is carrying a technology reserve of about $5.45 million, and that several IT vacancies are being filled; HR confirmed an IT hire accepted an offer at a higher step.
Cowlitz County commissioners reviewed the Information Technology (IT) operating fund and reserve accounts during their Monday meeting, hearing that internal service billings account for the majority of IT revenue and that staffing vacancies are being filled.
Kathy Funk Baxter, Cowlitz County finance director, said the IT operating fund (50201) had collected about 96% of internal service billings through January and February, about $4,997,000 of a $5,185,697 budget. Miscellaneous revenue and investment income were minimal through February, and an anticipated $402,000 transfer to the technology reserve was expected to post in March.
The nut graf: the size of the technology reserve and the timing of planned transfers matters because the fund is the county’s main source for replacing servers and major IT equipment and for covering planned purchases such as sheriff’s rugged laptops.
Funk Baxter told commissioners the county budgeted about $22.2 million for IT personnel this year; the department is budgeted for 11 positions and had five openings at the time of the report. She said two new employees were scheduled to start the day of the meeting and another hire was expected within two weeks. Travis (IT staff) confirmed he expected another hire to start in about two weeks and that the county would soon contract for help filling a fourth position on a contract-to-hire basis.
The technology reserve account holds a balance of about $5,450,000, Funk Baxter said. The reserve also shows a small budget for supplies and professional services; staff highlighted that the sheriff’s rugged laptop replacements—on a five-year cycle—could total about $400,000 and would be paid from the reserve when ordered.
Human resources director Jessica Warren told commissioners she had received a request from IT to start an IT operations coordinator at step 7; Warren said the candidate (Travis) had accepted the offer. The hiring paperwork and step-placement request were presented as a personnel action during the administrative portion of the meeting.
Ending: County staff said they expect the scheduled March transfers to post and plan a second-quarter budget amendment to account for equipment obligations that were clarified after the budget was adopted.
