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Cowlitz County approves budget amendment to buy River Suites, shift funds to Hall of Justice repairs
Summary
The Board of County Commissioners approved a 2025 budget amendment that increases revenue estimates, authorizes the purchase of the River Suites office, dissolves a lodging-tax cumulative reserve fund into the tourism fund, and reallocates $2 million from law-and-justice reserves toward Hall of Justice electrical and HVAC upgrades.
The Cowlitz County Board of Commissioners on Monday approved a multi-fund budget amendment that included the planned purchase of the River Suites office, a transfer of law-and-justice reserves into capital improvements for the Hall of Justice and the dissolution of a lodging-tax cumulative reserve account into the county's tourism fund.
"One of the major ones for the expenditure on the general fund is to provide funding for the purchase of the River Suites facility," Finance Director Kathy Funk Baxter told the board during a public hearing. She said the River Suites purchase prompted a $905,000 increase in general-fund expenditures tied to the acquisition.
Why it matters: the amendment adjusts revenue and expenditure estimates across multiple county funds to reflect stronger-than-expected receipts and to create budget capacity for near-term facilities work. The board approved the amendment at the hearing after commissioners heard a brief staff presentation and took no public comments.
Key changes the board approved: - River Suites purchase: a $905,000 general-fund expenditure increase to acquire office space currently used by the office of public defense. - Revenue estimates: a $1,513,470 increase in general-fund revenue estimates, producing a net addition to general-fund balance of about $986,120. - Dissolution of cumulative reserve fund: closure of cumulative reserve fund (fund 19701) and transfer of its lodging-tax proceeds and accrued interest into the Tourist Facility Development and Marketing special fund (tourism fund). - Hall of Justice: transfer of $2,000,000 from the law-and-justice fund balance to capital-improvement accounts for Hall of Justice electrical and HVAC projects; the Hall of Justice project budget was increased by an additional $1,500,000, leaving a 2025 anticipated spend of about $6,500,000 and $4,500,000 planned in 2026. - Roads: a $3.8 million reduction in federal highway-funded construction and equipment this year because selected projects were rescheduled to later periods. - Rural public facilities: an increase of roughly $336,000 to accommodate awards, including the Scott Hill Sports Complex and a dredge-material feasibility study. - Opioid fund: roughly $302,000 in additional settlement receipts adjusted into the opioid revenue fund; funds were added to ending fund balance without new allocations. - IT and equipment: about $708,000 of previously unbudgeted computer and hardware replacements were recognized and reserve balances reduced accordingly.
Officials emphasized this amendment was largely an accounting and timing exercise to align budget estimates with recorded revenues and to create capacity for committed projects. Funk Baxter said some personal-property tax and prior-period items had been recorded as actuals and the amendment brings the estimates into line.
Commissioners voted to approve the amendment following a public hearing; no members of the public spoke. "This is the quarter that we look pretty intently at all of our revenue sources and look to shore those up to better estimates," Funk Baxter said in summary.
Ending: The board approved the amendment and the dissolution of the named fund; several project-specific contracts (including a dredge-material feasibility contract) were described as coming back for consent approval in the near term.
