Commissioners spent substantial time on budget structure and internal communication at a Cowlitz County workshop, debating a proposal to allocate general-fund shares to departments by historical percentage and asking staff for more granular budget reporting.

A commissioner identified as Rick proposed treating the general fund as a fixed pool and distributing department shares according to historical percentages so departments would know their expected funding rather than fitting requests into an uncertain total. "We know we're gonna get 70,000,000 in," he said as an example, adding that departments could supplement that share with grants and that the county should keep two months of reserves. Staff agreed to analyze historical actuals and present options.

Assessor Emily reviewed her office's budget and questioned a $36,000 "supplies'' line; staff replied that category currently includes office supplies, small tools, software and fuel. Commissioners asked for more granular line-item reporting and access to the budget portal so departments can review expenditures by account.

Separately, public-health staff said they received a public-health infrastructure grant and will post a Request for Proposals to build out a modern food-safety program module to replace an aging Access database. "Our current system is very outdated and inefficient ... a new system would be amazing," the public-health presenter said, noting benefits for inspections, payments and public access.

Commissioners also discussed board liaison roles with staff, proposing to align liaisons with the external boards and committees commissioners already sit on to improve communication; staff cautioned that liaison meetings must avoid decision-making and should remain forums for information-sharing.

Next steps: Finance will return with a data-driven analysis of historical departmental percentages and options for presenting more granular budget categories. The food-safety RFP will appear on the consent agenda for vendor selection.