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Lewis County commissioners on Monday voted unanimously to adopt the 2022 county budget, marking the end of a seven-month process and allocating more than $164 million in expenditures across all funds.
Next year’s financial outlook appears rosy for Washington state’s first county, largely based on favorable trends seen over the previous year.
The Lewis County Assessor’s Office estimates countywide new construction this year at $354 milion, which is up from $242 million in 2021. Home prices surged 14.5% over the year. Sales tax revenue is up 31% through August compared with last year. The unemployment rate remains low at 4.3%.
In addition to the more than $164 million in expenditures, Lewis County staff are expecting to collect more than $149 million in revenue next year with roughly 36.5% of that — or more than $54 million — coming from taxes on sales and property.
County Manager Erik Martin said revenue next year is projected to increase by 9.1% largely due to an increase in sales-and-use tax projections and property tax revenue from new construction and state assessed utilities.
In the county’s general fund, roughly $43.2 million in revenue is budgeted for collection next year and about $46.3 million expended.
About 54% of those expenditures are expected to go to public safety, which includes the sheriff’s office, jail, juvenile court, coroner and civil service.
Martin said the county expects the general fund to begin 2022 with a balance of $14.3 million and end the year at $11.1 million, though that’s tentatively based on the actual ending balance of 2021.
“Things are relatively good. We have a healthy fund balance as of the end of ‘21, and we are projecting at the end of ‘22 what we would consider a healthy fund balance,” Martin told The Chronicle, adding that they have a solid enough cushion in the general fund that they can “take on some things that can really provide the community some benefit.”
Actual revenues generally outperform the initial budgets passed by county commissioners prior to the beginning of the fiscal year, according to a budget-to-actuals comparison from the last four years. Conversely, expenditures for the county also usually don’t exceed what’s budgeted out.
“I think the important thing to remember is this is a living document,” said Commissioner Lindsey Pollock, adding that it’s “really important” to keep the budget “finely tuned” throughout the year.
Pollock said the county has had a pretty healthy economic outlook thanks in no small part to county leadership.
“I think it’s a testament to all the different electeds and the directors that, even though times are good, were still working to put some in the reserves,” she said.
As the pandemic has shown, though, economic trends can change quickly. Pollock said she expects county staff and elected officials will keep a close eye on internal spending habits, sales and property taxes payments, and the broad health of the economy as the year progresses.
Lewis County starting next year will be allocated an additional $15.6 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to make narrow, one-time investments in COVID-19 pandemic response and make investments in infrastructure and broadband.
County staff are currently hosting a community survey online to gain feedback on how the public would like to see the funds distributed, and more than 900 responses have so far been recorded. It can be found online at www.lewiscountywa.gov/arpa/.
Some major capital projects the county has on its radar next year include improving and condensing of the county’s downtown campus and roughly $7.2 million in improvements to the Lewis County Juvenile Courthouse complex, the work of which started this year and will be finished next December.
The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office was also awarded its request for two new patrol deputies and a new records technician position that will be funded out of the human resources-public records office for body camera images.
Commissioners have decided to bank a 1% levy increase. Both the county’s general levy and roads levy, both collected from property taxes, will see no rate increases next year. The regular levy is budgeted to certify $15 million and the road levy $14 million next year.
Per November data from the Lewis County Assessor’s Office, the general assessment of the county is estimated at more than $11.7 billion and roads at $8.2 billion.
