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Cowlitz County reports preliminary 2024 deficit; sales-tax shortfall cited
Summary
Finance staff told commissioners the county’s preliminary 2024 results show a multi‑million‑dollar shortfall driven mainly by lower sales‑tax receipts and pending accruals, and recommended tightening expenditures for the next budget cycle.
Kathy Funk Baxter, Cowlitz County finance director, told the Board of County Commissioners that preliminary financials for 2024 show county revenues lagging expenses and a multi‑million‑dollar shortfall.
“We have at least two months’ worth of sales tax … about $2 million that hasn’t been recorded yet,” Kathy Funk Baxter said, noting the current books show revenues of roughly $56.5 million and expenses of about $64 million, yielding a preliminary deficit of a little over $7 million. Baxter said pending accruals and late sales‑tax receipts will reduce, but not eliminate, the gap.
Baxter said property‑tax collections were “pretty much right on line” with the…
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