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Treasurer reports steady tax collections, flags large workload from new senior/disabled exemption and rollout of penny-rounding law
Summary
Cowlitz County Treasurer Deborah Gardner reported healthy property tax collections and described changes from state REET rules, implementation of pay‑positive‑pay fraud controls, House Bill 2334 penny‑rounding effective June 11, and expected administrative impacts from Senate Bill 6162’s expanded senior/disabled exemption.
Deborah Gardner, Cowlitz County treasurer, gave the board a quarterly finance update on collections, tax rules and fraud prevention measures.
Gardner told commissioners the county had collected roughly 55.8% of the $178 million in total taxes as of the reporting date and that a large $32 million remittance from mortgage companies had arrived that morning. "As of today, we're around 55.8% taxes collected for the year," she said, noting earlier mailing of statements raised first-quarter collection percentages.
She summarized changes to the state real estate excise tax (REET) enacted Jan. 1, 2023, which moved the state portion to graduated brackets (state portion now ranges, depending on sale price, from 1.1% up to 3%). Gardner said the county's local REET portion remains at 0.25% and explained how the county processes REET affidavits and distributes proceeds to cities and districts.
On cash handling, Gardner said House Bill 2334 — the state law addressing penny elimination and rounding — goes into effect June 11 and the treasurer's office will update county cash-handling policy and notify departments. "We will add that to our cash handling policy and we were going to send out a memo to county departments to let them know that's now in law," she said.
Fraud prevention: Gardner described implementing "pay positive pay" with the county's bank to reduce check/warrant fraud. The county has moved 19 warrant accounts into the system (all but Port of Kalama, which plans to leave the county pool) so the bank can automatically flag mismatches for staff review. "If something doesn't match, they give us an exception and say, 'Hey, there's something not right with this one,'" she said, describing a daily approval window.
Policy and workload: Gardner warned that Senate Bill 6162, which expanded the state senior and disabled property-tax exemption thresholds and added standard deductions and rental-income exclusions, will significantly increase program eligibility and administrative work. She said the county currently has about 3,477 enrollees and estimated the population eligible could grow to 12,000–15,000 households under the new rules. "It's a really, really big shift and it's a lot of work," she said.
Gardner emphasized that the change is a tax-shift rather than a net revenue cut and described how refund and levy adjustments will be handled through the levy process. She advised commissioners the office is planning for the additional audit work and staff time the enlarged program will require.
Next steps: the treasurer's office will circulate policy memos about penny rounding, complete pay-positive-pay rollouts for remaining warrant relationships (except those planning to go independent), and provide updates as the county implements SB6162 enrollment and audit procedures.
Reporting note: figures and program estimates derive from the treasurer’s presentation to the Cowlitz County Board of Commissioners; some workload and eligibility projections are staff estimates.
