Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the County Finance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
County finance director briefs commissioners on January cash flows, sales-tax dip and budget amendment
Summary
Finance Director Kathy Funk Baxter summarized January cash-flow patterns tied to accrual reversals, noted a $1.1 million drop in 2024 sales-tax collections versus 2023, and previewed a budget-amendment public hearing and several timing-driven adjustments.
Kathy Funk Baxter, Cowlitz County finance director, told the Board of Commissioners on Monday that January financial statements show typical timing effects: large internal-service charges and accrual reversals make January appear expense-heavy before property-tax and sales-tax receipts arrive in April and October.
Funk Baxter said the county recorded about $2 million in revenues and $10 million in expenses for the general fund through January, a pattern she said reflects standard timing for internal services and accruals rather than an operational shortfall. She explained that accrual reversals produced apparent negative comparators for 2024 in January 2025 reporting and that comparisons will normalize after February and March postings.
On sales tax, Funk Baxter reported that 2024 sales-tax receipts through December total about $11.5 million, roughly $1.1 million less than 2023. She told the board the 2025 budget was conservatively set flat to 2024 rather than assuming growth, citing reduced new-construction sales-tax revenue as the primary cause of the decline.
Funk Baxter previewed a public hearing scheduled for the next day to consider a budget amendment. Key amendment items she described include repayment by the county risk-management fund of a one-time subsidy recorded in 2024, carryover of previously budgeted but unspent items into 2025 (for example, jail RFID equipment and Hall of Justice project expenses), and establishment of a new construction fund for the Parks and Fair Department tied to planned phase-1 work and bond refinancing.
She said the county began 2024 with roughly $318,000 in combined cash and investments in the program she presented and that departments continue to monitor reserves and investment balances monthly. Funk Baxter said the county’s recording-fee transactions rose in January compared with the prior year, and that the county will continue to bring monthly updates to the board.
Funk Baxter told commissioners that more routine comparability in the reports will return after the accrual entries and reversals settle in the coming months, and she offered to flag any unusual variances to the board as they arise. She also noted that specific revenue streams such as motor-vehicle-fuel tax and criminal-justice billings can show timing distortions based on state and municipal remittance schedules.
