Cathy Funk Baxter, Cowlitz County finance director, presented a fourth‑quarter budget amendment packet to the Board of County Commissioners and summarized numerous line‑item adjustments across county funds.

Baxter said total recommended adjustments increase the general‑fund ending balance by about $346,000 for the items in the amendment. She detailed department‑level adjustments: sheriff office line‑items (offsetting ins and outs), a correction to district court judge pro tem and interpreter budgets, a corrected assessment for office of public defense association fees, and program adjustments in health and human services tied to contract and fund consolidations.

Major items highlighted:

- Dissolution and transfer for tourism: a long‑standing cumulative reserve that previously held 50% of lodging tax receipts (saved for the Johnson Ridge facility) will be dissolved and about $915,333 moved into the tourism fund, leaving tourism with an estimated fund balance of roughly $1.2 million.

- Budget stabilization and reserves: a transfer of about $597,000 to the budget stabilization fund was presented (1% of revenue formula), bringing that fund to nearly $3.5 million per Baxter’s summary.

- IT fund true‑ups: operating and reserve IT fund balances were adjusted upward (operating +$569,000; IT reserve +$971,000) to correct understated beginning balances from prior budget estimates.

- New sheriff equipment & technology fund: staff proposed creating a new fund seeded by transfers from general fund, IT and motor pool totaling roughly $932,000 (presented as entries to establish the fund and associated 2025 expenditures).

Baxter also walked through many smaller grant and program corrections across health and human services, water/sewer projects pushed to 2026, and ARPA adjustments. She said transfers and expense corrections for PFD debt service were recorded to reflect refinanced bonds.

Consent and other agenda items discussed in the same session (presentation and scheduling, not recorded as completed votes in the transcript) included:

- Public works: bid award for delivered rock products. Public works staff reported the apparent low bidder had withdrawn for an error and recommended award to JL Stewart & Sons for $91,286 (three shop locations; material and delivery). No formal vote was recorded in the transcript.

- Law enforcement records (Spillman) consortium billing: a consent‑agenda contract for shared records software was summarized. Total consortium cost was presented as about $169,000 annually; the county’s share was reported as $59,000 for 2026 (general fund $57,000; law & justice fund $5,000 in 2027). The allocation is based on number of Spillman users per agency.

- Noxious Weeds: an Ecology contract to provide a WCC crew for three weeks of work next year (two weeks for monument work, one week for knotweed work) was described; the contract value was described as just under $17,000.

- Building & Planning: staff requested a public hearing be set for Nov. 4 at 9:30 a.m. on the KT West rural subdivision (Payne Road, Castle Rock); staff reported no neighboring public comments were received and only standard agency comments.

- Corrections / MOUD grant: director of corrections described a one‑year grant/contract extension with the Washington State Health Care Authority to reimburse some medical contract costs for opioid use disorder treatment (MOUD); the amount presented was $437,000 and the extension would be retroactive to July 1, 2025; the transcript shows the item on the consent agenda but does not record a final vote.

- In‑custody fatality report: the corrections director requested a 60‑day extension under the applicable RCW for completing the county’s unexpected in‑custody fatality report (autopsy delays cited). The board discussion in the transcript did not record a formal vote on the extension.

Ending: Baxter and department presenters said these adjustments clean up prior budget estimates, reflect updated grant and project timing, and set up staff to continue work on the 2026 budget. Several consent items and contracts were put on the agenda for formal action but the transcript did not record final votes in the workshop session.