County Makes First Budget Amendment of 2019, Adding $3M in Revenue, $5.5M in Expenditures

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County commissioners have approved the first amendment to their enacted 2019 budget Monday, with increases of more than $3 million in revenue and nearly $5.5 million in expenditures. 

Little of that money comes from the county’s general fund, and much of the “new” spending is money that had been previously set aside but not yet officially allocated. 

“Although the numbers look big, there are really good reasons they are there,” said county manager Erik Martin.

One of the biggest expenditures is more than $1 million from the Distressed Counties .09 Fund, which is a state sales tax received by Lewis County and allocated to projects that promote rural development. Though the funding had already been in place, the county recently chose a trio of projects to receive the money, triggering the new “increase” in spending.

“When those big budget amendments happen, a lot of it is funds that were sitting there waiting to be spent for a specific purpose, they just hadn’t been decided how and how much yet,” Martin said. “(The .09 Fund) is a great example of that, because there was over $1 million there that was good, well-spent money for economic development that just hadn’t been appropriated yet.”

The county has taken steps to include the public more in its budget process in recent years. The enacted 2019 budget is — on paper — slated to pull more than $3.5 million from the general fund reserves, though officials say conservative budgeting practices mean it’s unlikely they’ll wind up that far in the red.

Still, the remaining reserves in the budget document total $6 million, a number not far from the “worst case” $5 million that commissioners have said they won’t go below. The amendment enacted Monday has a negligible effect on the general fund, bringing in an extra $106,000 and spending another $222,000 — a net loss of $114,000. 



Much of that loss is an additional $50,000 that commissioners agreed to pay to the Lewis County Seniors nonprofit last year, a funding hike that had not been written into the budget. Another $60,000 is going to cover state-mandated public defense and jail medical costs, with another $40,000 budgeted for the addition of the county’s new part-time security officer. 

The biggest changes are in the other funds the county manages.

Nearly $2.5 million in extra revenue is coming into the county’s Roads Fund, with another $2.9 million in spending. That’s largely the result of a Federal Emergency Management Agency project to purchase replacement equipment, as well as the addition of an assistant supervisor position.

While the county is bringing in an extra $200,000 in grant funding for its Capital Facilities Plan, it’s spending another $830,000 for land and building purchases, as well as facility upgrades. 

Several other funds see five-figure increases in both revenues and expenditures, all of which come close to offsetting. 

“There’s like 76 other funds that have dollars in them, and we’re using some of that that’s dedicated — those dollars can’t be placed elsewhere,” said county commissioner Edna Fund. “That could be alarming to some people, but much of this money has been dedicated for that particular piece of work.”