Cowlitz County staff propose third-quarter budget amendments, including $905,000 for Riverside office purchase

Cowlitz County finance staff on Monday presented a third-quarter budget amendment that increases general-fund revenue estimates and reallocates spending to cover several unanticipated obligations and planned capital projects. The amendment includes a $905,000 allocation to purchase two units at the Riverside office building for the office of the public defender and records roughly $1.5 million in planned capital spending for Hall of Justice improvements after a $2 million transfer from a law-and-justice fund. Finance director Cathy Funk Baxter said the Riverside settlement “is happening this week” and asked commissioners to expect closings in the near term. The amendment also recognizes about $1.5 million in additional general-fund revenues, primarily from higher-than-expected real and personal property tax receipts and interest income. Why it matters: the revision both recognizes added revenue and absorbs several new or accelerated expenses, keeping the county within a revised balanced plan while advancing a major facility project at the county jail. Key details: finance staff identified several specific changes — a $20,000 increase for outside legal review in the commissioners’ budget, the $905,000 Riverside purchase, and an adjustment of $60,000 to cover unexpected retirement-related vacation payouts in the sheriff’s department. The amendment reduces certain road capital and traffic-control expenses by moving unfinished projects into next year and budgets $708,000 in an IT reserve for hardware and software replacements. Staff said opioid-settlement and distributor payments have increased receipts to the county’s opioid fund to about $479,000 so far; the county has not yet received a Purdue settlement amount. Cathy Funk Baxter said DocuSign and signature logistics are being resolved with settlement administrators before the September 18 deadline for some agreements. The amendment will be presented at a public hearing on the consent agenda the following day; commissioners did not record a final vote in the workshop. Ending note: Finance staff said the county remains in a positive position on the amendment overall after accounting for the Riverside purchase and the planned Hall of Justice work. The Hall of Justice electrical and HVAC kickoff was scheduled to begin in mid-September.