The Lewis County government is leaning on reserves and extra fund balances to cover standard annual salary increases for county employees.
The Lewis County Board of Commissioners approved the county’s first budget amendment of 2026 on Tuesday, April 21, during its regularly scheduled business meeting.
The official amendment shows the county taking in $3 million more in revenue than expected and spending about $4.77 million more than expected. The county will cover the extra costs using about $1.76 million in fund balance across multiple accounts, including approximately $730,000 in general fund balance, which is often treated as reserves, and $1.02 million across the county’s many other accounts.
The commissioners passed the amendment without comment and no members of the public showed up to speak. Lewis County Budget and Risk Director Becky Butler provided a staff briefing on the amendment before passage.
According to Butler, the initial public notice of the first 2026 quarterly budget amendment described a predicted increase in county expenditures to the tune of $1,824,660 and a decrease in county revenue in the amount of $13,455.00. Last minute changes to the amendment caused the major difference between those amounts and what was approved by the board. The updates ultimately reduced the costs to the county by around $77,000, according to a briefing document detailing the amendment.
The budget amendment briefing document shows the official reasons for the changes in spending in each of the impacted funds and shows that the majority of expenses that will be covered by county fund balance come from recent increases in labor costs. The county recently completed negotiating collective bargaining agreements (CBA) with all 14 bargaining units representing Lewis County employees.
The bargaining agreements approved routine cost-of-living salary increases for county employees for at least the next year, along with other benefit changes. The county also approved modest cost-of-living salary increases for its non-union represented employees at the beginning of the year.
For the most recent reporting by The Chronicle on the county’s newest labor agreements, visit https://tinyurl.com/bd55mhaa.
The Lewis County Board of Commissioners was expecting significant change to the county’s 2026 budget from the moment they approved it back in 2025. The commission approved its proposed 2026 budget without including a likely increase in labor costs from the 14 collective bargaining agreements still under negotiation.
According to Butler, the commission chose not to include the labor costs in the proposed 2026 budget at the time so that they could review the county’s final revenue and expense numbers for fiscal year 2025 first.
“The BOCC postponed adding the increased (cost of living adjustments) and benefits to the 2026 adopted budget so they could review (year end) 2025 and ensure we maintained an adequate level of funds balance,” Butler said in an email to The Chronicle.
Butler added that while the labor costs look at first like they may be draining some of the county’s spare funds, they are primarily covered by larger than expected revenue from previous years or fee and tax revenues that won't be realized until later in the fiscal year.
According to both Butler and Lewis County’s Chief Accountant Grace Jimenez, the county started the 2026 fiscal year with about $17.15 million in its general fund and $126.5 million in fund balance across all of its other accounts.
Butler added that the Lewis County general fund actually finished out the 2025 fiscal year with a roughly $1.5 million increase.
Lewis County Commissioner Lindsey Pollock voted against the county’s 2026 budget when it was approved in December of last year. She pointed to planned use of $1.8 million in reserve funds at the time as well as a major transfer of funds away from the county’s road fund to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
For previous reporting by The Chronicle on the county’s budget woes, visit https://tinyurl.com/32d9fbj4.
The largest portion of funds included in the final budget amendment are relatively inconsequential to the county governments accounts. The county, serving as the fiscal agent for the newly independent Lewis County 911 Communications agency, transferred $2.6 million from the communications operating fund to its capital budget fund at the request of the Lewis County 911 Communications Executive Board.
That $2.6 million is included in both the revenue and expenditure figures as it leaves one fund as an expense and enters into another as revenue. The funds are restricted to use by Lewis County 911 Communications.
According to Butler, the transfer was a last minute addition to the budget amendment, being approved by the 911 executive board after the county put out a public notice that included the details of the first quarter budget amendment.
Without including the $2.6 million fund shuffle on behalf of Lewis County 911 Communications, the budget amendment comes out to an expected revenue increase of $418,338 and an expected increase in county expenses to the tune of approximately $2.18 million.
