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County proposes collapsing bridge funds into Road & Bridge as sales-tax receipts fall
Summary
Staff recommended consolidating bridge-and-culvert and special bridge funds into a single Road & Bridge fund to ease monthly cash flow, citing a decline in sales-tax receipts and projections that transfers will drop from $600,000 last year to about $470,000 in the coming year.
County staff recommended collapsing multiple road-related funds into a single Road & Bridge fund to address cash-flow volatility caused by lower sales-tax receipts.
Speaker 6 said the county's sales-tax collections have fallen toward 2020 levels and the staff is projecting a conservative sales-tax figure for the current year; as a result transfers to road projects will change (last year $600,000 transferred; this year staff projected roughly $470,000). To smooth month-to-month cash flow, staff proposed moving levy authority and reserves from special bridge and bridge-and-culvert funds into the Road & Bridge fund while retaining internal department accounting.
Why it matters: Consolidation aims to prevent work stoppages because some projects currently wait for monthly distributions; staff said combining funds will streamline payroll and allow the road department to operate between distribution months (January and June). Commissioners asked for accounting clarifications and assurances that fund-specific reserves would remain visible inside the combined fund.
Supporting details: Staff said the federal-fund exchange and fuel/supply cost increases (projected 5% fuel, 3% supplies) are included in projections. The presenter indicated a need for a budget amendment to finalize the transfer and said the auditor had been consulted.
Next steps: Staff will prepare the budget amendment and additional detail on how departmental allocations will be tracked inside the combined fund. No formal action was taken during the session.
