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Cowlitz County finance manager reports early-2025 revenues, flags timing-driven shortfall
Summary
Finance staff told commissioners the county’s early 2025 totals show revenues lagging because of accrual timing for sales and property taxes, with County Road and solid-waste funds affected by timing and internal billing changes.
Susie Moon, Cowlitz County finance manager, told the Board of Commissioners on Monday that early 2025 figures show revenue timing, not necessarily new shortfalls, is driving apparent deficits.
Moon said through February the general fund had about $6,400,000 in revenue and roughly $15,300,000 in expenses. "Sales tax is collected on a 2 month lag," she said, explaining why roughly $1,900,000 in sales tax recorded in February will largely be accrued back to 2024 and why the first sales-tax receipts tied to 2025 were not expected until March. Moon also noted that the first-half property-tax payments are not due until April and that the county will see a large increase in receipts after that timing point.
Why it matters: The presentation framed the county's apparent gap as a timing issue driven by accounting accruals and the schedule of tax receipts, rather than an immediate change in ongoing operations. Moon said she expected the published numbers to “start catching up maybe in April” once accruals and first-half property-tax receipts are processed.
Moon gave fund-level details: County Road had about $1,700,000 in revenue and $2,700,000 in expenses through February; solid waste had about $4,500,000 in revenue and $3,600,000 in expenses. She cautioned the board that solid-waste totals show a year-to-year increase in part because the landfill’s quarterly rent payment to the general fund occurred in February 2025 but occurred in March in 2024, altering February-to-February comparisons. Moon said roughly $2,200,000 of solid-waste revenue shown through February would be accrued back to 2024.
On expenses, Moon said internal service billings—charges for IT, insurance and risk—rose and were the main driver of a services-line increase from about $6,700,000 through February 2024 to about $7,800,000 in 2025. She attributed part of County Road’s higher 2025 expenses to IT, finance and operations billings that are allocated internally.
Moon also noted that the County Road 2025 budget increased to about $50,000,000 from about $33,000,000 in 2024 because capital projects that were delayed in 2024 (for example, a Cloverdale project in Kalama) were rolled into 2025 through budget amendments. The board asked for follow-up on some items Moon could not explain on the spot, including the precise purpose of the solid-waste rent payment; Moon said she would "follow-up with Sean and get back with you on that."
Board members pressed for clarifications on collection rates and ending-balance interpretations of property taxes; Moon said she would obtain additional details and provide them in the next presentation.
The finance presentation closed with Moon summarizing that, outside of the internal-service increases, spending through February was broadly in line with 2024 levels and that forthcoming accrual adjustments and the April property-tax receipts should materially change the year-to-date picture.
