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Finance director previews budget committee week; county general fund near revenue projection
Summary
Deschutes County finance staff reviewed March financials and budget prep work ahead of budget committee meetings, reporting general‑fund revenues near forecast and continuing monitoring of departmental FTE and overtime.
Robert Tinto, Deschutes County financial officer, presented the March 2025 financial reports and a budget update to the board on April 21. He briefed commissioners on key dashboard items in the packet and summarized changes month to month.
Tinto said the county is roughly 75 percent of the way through the fiscal year and noted the general fund is showing 97.4 percent of budgeted revenues and 54.6 percent of expenditures to date. He highlighted a beginning fund balance slightly higher than originally estimated and said the budget team is finalizing the proposed FY 2025‑26 budget for the budget committee, with public meetings scheduled the week of May 12–14.
Staff noted changes in FTE reporting: the addition of one building‑safety inspector position approved to support building safety inspections, and continued vacancy levels in the sheriff’s office (about 39.5 unfilled positions), which remain part of budget vacancy‑savings assumptions.
Tinto walked commissioners through major fund highlights in the packet: room‑tax (TRT) revenues that are above last year’s actuals but slightly over a reduced budget; ARPA funds that will transfer $4.6 million to capital projects (courthouse) later this year; and behavioral‑health funds projecting lower revenue vs. budget that have been offset by some reductions in expenditure projections. He said OHP behavioral‑health reserves remain sizeable and that staff will present planned uses during the budget process.
Road and solid‑waste capital‑outlay timing was discussed: road fund capital outlay actuals are low through March because the peak construction season is in later months, but staff project capital spending to ramp up in the summer. Several small funds are projecting personnel or overtime overages driven primarily by increased health‑insurance costs that were not adjusted after budget adoption; finance staff said they will bring budget adjustments later in the fiscal year to address those items.
Commissioners and staff discussed how projections now feed into next year’s beginning fund balances and noted several fund‑level variances that will be tracked as the final quarter of the fiscal year closes. Tinto said the budget team and departments are finalizing narratives and budget materials for the budget committee and thanked departments for their work preparing materials.
