Commissioners Consider Options to Balance 2018 Budget

Posted

After dipping into the county’s general fund reserve to balance the 2017 budget, the Lewis County commissioners are discussing options that would help build those reserves back up. That could be accomplished in a variety of ways, Budget Analyst Becky Butler explained, and the ultimate decision will fall to the commissioners.

Preliminary projections show that if the county maintained its current spending level, the reserves would continue to drop, Butler said at the Tuesday budget meeting. 

In this year’s budget, the county utilized $1.95 million from the general fund reserve to balance the budget. 

To mediate this, Butler said, the current projection for the 2018 budget includes a potential 2 percent reduction of expenditures from the general fund.

Options include providing less funding to the Washington State University Extension Office by implementing user fees, establishing a partnership to offset the cost, potentially reducing full time equivalent staff, or moving the office to another location. 

Butler said Lewis County puts in over $200,000 to run the program, far more than other comparable counties. Cowlitz County, for example, does not contribute any funding to the program and relies solely on the money provided by WSU.  

Other options include finding additional grant funds to pay for Discover Lewis County, an online tourism site run by the county, and establishing an expenditure limit on the county’s Public Health and Social Services Department. 



Commissioners were asked if they would like to be presented options on potential staff reductions and reduced courthouse hours, or if they would rather focus on non-mandated programs to cut. 

The county already plans to keep vacant positions open until sick time and leave is paid out, unless prior approval is granted to fill those jobs.  

Commissioners will also be looking at the possibility of changing health care policies, implementing a three-tenths of a percent public safety tax to help fund the Sheriff’s Office, and the possibility of doing a levy shift that would take some of the transportation funding for roads and deposit it into the general fund for other matters.

Butler said there are many counties that utilize a levy shift, but explained if that happens the Public Works department would not be able to complete all of its projects, or potentially result in layoffs. 

For the next budget meeting, Butler will compile a list of potential options for the board to consider. 

The forecast and information provided at the meeting are “very preliminary,” Butler said.