The Grays Harbor County general fund continues to look like it will finish 2016 better than budgeted.
In a budget presentation by county budget manager Brenda Sherman on Sept. 19, the general fund is projected to finish the year with an operating deficit of about $436,000.
While it is an operating deficit, the deficit is less than half of what had been budgeted for the year. The commissioners had budgeted for the general fund to end more than $1.18 million in the red for 2016.
The current projection of an operating deficit of about $436,000 assumes each department spends only 98 percent of its budget. While most departments are keeping within their budgets, some may request supplemental budgets before the end of the year.
Sherman projected that each department should have 33 percent or more of its budget remaining, but some departments have exceeded that amount. The corrections department has about 31 percent remaining, the county security department has about 32 percent remaining and the public defense department has about 31 percent remaining.
Molly Anderson of the Grays Harbor Sheriff’s Office said the department expects to request a supplemental budget for the corrections department to meet the fiscal needs of 2016.
Also ailing are parks and vegetation management and advanced expenditures.
“Those do not have payroll included in them and they should be OK,” Sherman said.
The civil service department has about 25 percent of its budget remaining.
Appropriation changes for both the civil service and public defense departments were included in the current projection. Civil service will receive an additional $5,000 and public defense will receive an additional $50,000.
Other appropriation changes include decreases in budgeted transfers to the facilities capital fund ($135,700) and the software replacement fund (54,300). Both funds were expected to benefit from timber sales, however county timber revenue is not meeting projections.
County timber revenue now is expected to fall $190,000 short of the budgeted estimates, and the county Treasurer’s Office revenue also is expected to fall $190,000 short.
Other revenue changes include an additional $150,000 in state timber, $57,000 more from a combination of Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT, paid by the federal government for federal lands that could have generated taxes if it weren’t federally owned) and PUD privilege tax, as well as $48,000 more in building permit fees, and an increase in sales tax of about $200,000.
In all, changes in revenue and expenditures are expected to net an additional $182,000 for the general fund.
“A lot of ups and downs there,” Sherman said.
Last year’s general fund budget ended with an operating deficit of more than $89,000.
With an operating deficit of more than $436,000, the general fund will finish with an ending cash balance of more than $5.1 million. The county’s target ending cash was at least $4.2 million.
