The Lewis County Courthouse in Chehalis
The message from the budget staff in Lewis County government couldn’t be more clear.
If the county commissioners thought 2018 was rough year to budget for — they approved a budget using $1.3 million in reserves — then preparing for 2019 could be a doozy.
Rising medical costs and other factors prevented the commissioners from passing a balanced budget this year. The commissioners had hoped to fund next year’s county government operations without the use of reserves after years of dipping into the rainy day funds to provide money for county operations.
Fortunately for hundreds of area senior citizens, they agreed to fund the county’s five senior centers to the tune of about $275,000 after initially planning to end $375,000 in funding effective midway through this year.
It’s likely they will revisit the absolute elimination of that funding next year, especially as their budget manager gives repeated warnings on the shape of the county’s finances.
“Again, this problem is not going to go away,” Becky Butler told the commissioners last month of the financial situation. “The need is there, but the board needs to prioritize those needs. Next year it’s going to be really difficult.”
Already, the commissioners have cut the budget for the WSU Lewis County Extension while at times eyeing other programs, such as the Cold Case Unit in the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office, which was eventually funded.
We have to wonder if Discover Lewis County, the county-owned tourism website, will survive into 2019 even as it has been moved from the county IT department to the Southwest Washington Fair in a decision that essentially reduced funding for it.
Amid this dreary financial outlook, the Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce, through its political action committee One Lewis County, says it likely has the signatures it needs to start the Home Rule Charter process.
The PAC’s chief goal is to install the requirement for a county manager in Lewis County. A task force appointed by the commissioners reached a similar conclusion after two years of controversial developments published by this newspaper, among them a reliance on reserves, lawsuits and infighting between commissioners.
County department directors and elected officials largely agreed with that assessment. Lewis County needs a professional manager who can assist elected leaders — who currently make more than $110,000 each in salaries and benefits and often have no experience in government or management — in making decisions of dire financial importance to the people of Lewis County.
The commissioners have said they will hire a consultant to assess the need for a manager, but that seems to be another case of kicking the can down the road in hopes that it will eventually disappear.
With tumultuous financial waters ahead, we’re reminded of how helpful a professional manager could have been in avoiding the turmoil had he or she been in place years ago. The last manager was fired in 2009 and never replaced.
We continue to support the Chamber’s effort, and we look forward to the potential election of freeholders who can together work to create a new, successful framework for Lewis County government.
You can learn more about the process at http://mrsc.org/Home/Explore-Topics/Governance/Forms-of-Government-and-Organization/County-Forms-of-Government.aspx.
