Treasurer reports county on track; sales tax strong and PPRT receipts vary month to month

The Finance Committee received a quarterly report from Treasurer Reed that painted a generally stable fiscal picture but highlighted a few items staff will continue to monitor.

Reed said the general fund is "kind of right on target, maybe running a little hot," noting the county has spent about 26% of appropriated expenditures and expects a large liability-insurance payment of roughly $700,000–$750,000 in the early part of next year. "We should have 75% of the budget remaining; we've got 74% of our appropriated expenditures," he said.

On revenues, Reed reported sales-tax receipts are coming in strong and public-safety tax collections are above estimates. He noted that PPRT (a state-distributed pool) can swing widely month-to-month, giving examples of very different months and stressing that some PPRT receipts may be statute-restricted and can shift between accounting buckets.

Committee members asked about a notable increase in treasurer's-office expenses year over year. Reed attributed much of that to filling an added position, a health-insurance increase (he cited 13–14% last year), and higher software and licensing costs associated with implementing timekeeping and budget modules in their accounting system. He emphasized many of those are one-time implementation costs.

The committee approved the quarterly treasurer's report by voice vote. Members directed staff to continue monitoring revenue trends and to provide additional detail on expense increases for the year-to-year comparison.

No new budget ordinances were adopted at the meeting; staff plans to fold these updates into the next budget cycle and to continue reporting updated revenue projections as new data arrives.