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Commissioners review $263,000 in countywide membership dues, agree to pay as budgeted
Summary
Finance director presented the county’s annual membership dues and their benefits; commissioners discussed value and inter‑organization overlap and agreed to process payments as budgeted while asking staff to continue reviewing efficiencies.
Kathy Funk Baxter, Cowlitz County finance director, briefed the Board of Commissioners Feb. 5 on the county’s annual membership dues, explaining the payments are primarily charged to the county’s non‑departmental general fund. Kathy listed the largest memberships and their annual amounts: the Council of Governments (COG) at $173,247, the Washington Association of Counties (WAC) at $45,246, the Washington Association of County Officials (WACO) at about $20,005, the Cowlitz Economic Development Council at $19,006.42, the Kelso‑Longview Chamber of Commerce at $2,525 and the National Association of Counties at about $2,001 (total roughly $263,000).
Kathy described benefits that come with specific memberships. Bill Fasching, director of the Cowlitz‑Wahkiakum Council of Governments, told commissioners the COG distributes federal surface transportation block grants and other federal dollars locally and administers a medical rate stabilization pool; the COG handout cited cumulative medical stabilization benefits of roughly $972,000 to the county since 2010 and listed roughly $5 million in transportation projects the COG supported in the county’s planning horizon.
Commissioners discussed whether the county receives commensurate value, noted benefits that often flow to cities and ports, and asked for better documentation of returns. Commissioner comments included observations that COG helps the county and cities access federal/state funding and that some elected officials rely on WACO and other affiliate organizations for legislative advocacy and training. Several elected officials present — including the county treasurer and auditor — described WACO services as useful for continuing education, legislative tracking and interoffice coordination.
A separate exchange addressed overlap between statewide affiliates and association costs. One commissioner said some counties have stopped participating in one organization and questioned whether WACO and the other association (referred to in the discussion as Wasatch in places) should consolidate or coordinate billing and services; other commissioners agreed it is a valid topic for future conversation.
Outcome: After discussion, the commissioners directed staff to process the listed dues payments as included in the adopted budget and to continue monitoring value and efficiencies; no formal roll‑call vote was taken in the transcript excerpt. Commissioners also indicated they will pursue follow‑up conversations with the organizations and expected more exposure to the associations’ work over the coming year.
Direct quote: Bill Fasching (COG) said, “Since the creation of the [medical stabilization] program, nationally, we've been about half of the increase in cost of insurance for the Kaiser program that is under this program as the national average.” Kathy and commissioners asked for more detail from the COG and its insurance representative.
The finance director left the door open for commissioners who want additional briefings to request follow‑ups and additional documentation before the county renews or reprioritizes memberships in future budget cycles.
