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Cowlitz County keeps membership dues in 2025 budget; commissioners say payments provide regional services
Summary
Finance Director Kathy Funk Baxter presented the county's 2025 membership dues package totaling about $263,000. The board approved processing the payments as budgeted after discussion of benefits, regional programs and whether statewide affiliate groups should consolidate.
Kathy Funk Baxter, Cowlitz County finance director, presented a breakdown of countywide membership dues that are primarily paid from the non-departmental general fund and asked the board to authorize processing payments that were included in the adopted budget. The total annual package Baxter presented adds up to about $263,000 and the board instructed staff to proceed with payments as budgeted.
Why it matters: the county's dues fund regional planning and advocacy functions, technical assistance and eligibility for federal and state programs that can deliver infrastructure, transportation and economic-development dollars back to the county and its cities.
Dues and major items: Baxter told the board the largest single membership is the regional Council of Governments (COG) at $173,247. That total includes roughly $111,000 in general dues, a one-time assessment of about $19,000, $20,000 for…
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