Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the County Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Cowlitz County commissioners propose reclaiming $5.3M in one‑time/unspent appropriations to narrow budget gap
Summary
County staff asked commissioners to direct departments to return about $5.3 million in unused appropriations identified from a four‑year review, a step intended to narrow a projected $14.8 million 2026 shortfall and reduce a remaining 2027 gap of roughly $5.1 million.
County finance staff on Monday outlined a plan to reclaim roughly $5.3 million in one‑time or unused appropriations across departments as a first step to narrow a projected $14.8 million gap in the county’s 2026 budget.
The presentation showed 2026 revenues of about $61 million against expenditures of $75.8 million, producing the deficit. Staff said the $5.3 million figure comes from a four‑year review of returned appropriations, taking the lower of the four‑year average or what was returned in 2025 and removing one‑time capital and internal service items to arrive at reductions departments control.
The plan would ask department heads and elected officials to identify reductions and return worksheets by mid‑May, with a formal budget amendment expected at the end of May if the board directs staff to proceed. Staff said monthly or bi‑monthly budget amendments may be needed through the year as conditions change.
“We took the last four years after COVID…these are actual numbers, actual budgets, money that was returned,” a commissioner said, praising the approach as realistic and emphasizing the goal of avoiding workforce reductions. The commissioner added that the reductions should have “minimal impact, if any, on the departments” if implemented as described.
Staff cautioned the board that even with the proposed recoveries, the county faces a larger structural problem into 2027. If unknown revenues materialize at the staff estimate and a public safety levy and other revenue shifts occur, staff still projects an additional need of about $5.1 million in 2027.
Commissioners discussed how the calculation handled departments with recent budget increases or benefit‑cost adjustments. The sheriff’s office was cited as an example where a combination of a 2025‑26 budget increase and a truing‑up of employee benefit costs produced a larger proposed recovery than the four‑year average returned amount; staff recommended workshops with departments where numbers differed significantly.
The board directed staff to send the reduction worksheets to department heads and to organize workshops if departments say the reductions are unobtainable. Staff will collect responses in mid‑May and prepare the amendment for the end of May.
Next steps: departments will review the worksheets and report back; the board will consider amendments after that process.
