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Assessor, facilities and public-works budgets on track, commissioners told
Summary
Finance Director Kathy Funk Baxter told the Board that the assessor, facilities and public-works budgets are generally on target through May, with one vacant facilities FTE and timing-driven service payments inflating early-year service spending.
Kathy Funk Baxter, Cowlitz County finance director, told the Board of County Commissioners that departmental budget reviews show generally expected spending patterns for the assessor’s office, facilities and public works.
Baxter said the assessor’s office "have very little in the way of revenues, coming in," noting the office budgeted $24,050 for goods and services and had received $8,770 through May, mostly recording fees. "A portion of the recording fee goes to their office and, their general funds," she said, and added personnel is the assessor’s largest expenditure: about $2,105,000 budgeted with $756,235 expended through May. "They have 20 FTEs in their department, and they have no vacancies right now," Baxter said.
The facilities general fund, Baxter said, has one main revenue line — annual space billings — budgeted at $189,900 and not yet collected. On the expense side, Baxter said personnel is budgeted at $994,003.78 with $310,003.57 expended through May; she attributed below-target personnel spending to one open FTE and recent internal promotions.
Sean Reedy, Public Works, confirmed the facilities manager role had been filled and that the final facilities technician should be hired soon. Reedy also described the services budget (about $2,002,945) and noted internal service billing and custodial/utility contracts are paid early in the year: "Of that expenditures, 719,000 is for internal service billings that were paid in January," he said, and property insurance assessments add roughly $400,000 to current-year expenses.
On the landfill electrical contract, Reedy said the county is completing retainage for Advanced Electrical Technologies for 2023–24 on-call work. He said the county spent about $53,000 on that contract in 2024 and described typical work as "PLC replacements, transducers replacement on our leachate ponds, communications things."
Baxter and Reedy told commissioners they saw no unusual budget risks for these departments at this point.
The commissioners asked for additional clarifications: one commissioner asked whether front-loaded service payments were fixed costs; Baxter explained targets are computed on a straight 12-month basis and large service bills paid in January can make expenditures exceed the simple five-month target but will align over the full year.
Ending: The commissioners directed staff to continue monitoring these departmental funds and to report material changes at future budget reviews.
