Every once in a while, people are tripped up by the sales tax. They stand at the register trying to do the math and slowly realize they don't have the cash to cover what they hoped to purchase.
Well, Lewis County is stuck at the register.
During a county meeting late last month, Lewis County staff informed the Board of Commissioners of a shortfall of more than $600,000 needed to finish a series of infrastructure improvements vital to 911 communication in the county. According to the county, the issue stems from a series of errors, including a failure to consider sales tax and project cost increases pushed through without approval from the Board of Commissioners.
To make things more difficult, the hit to the budget comes just as the region has completed all paperwork to finally make Lewis County 911 an agency independent of the Lewis County government and just as the newly assembled executive board is looking to hire a new executive director.
Voters approved a measure in November 2024 to increase the sales-and-use tax within Lewis County by two-tenths of 1% for the purpose of providing funds for the costs associated with financing, design, acquisition, construction, equipping, operating, maintaining, remodeling, repairing, re-equipping the 911 center and make improvements of emergency communications systems and facilities.
“The timing could not have been worse,” Lewis County Manager Ryan Barrett said Monday. “But this is where we find ourselves.”
During the initial county meeting on Monday, Lewis County Budget Administrator Becky Butler told the commissioners that the additional money for the capital projects would need to come from the county communications fund, which supports the now-independent Lewis County 911 communications agency. As a result, the transfer of funds required approval from the recently convened Lewis County 911 Executive Board.
The budget woes were relayed to the 911 executive board by Barrett during its meeting later the same week on Friday, Aug. 29. Barrett explained the situation to the board members, who begrudgingly approved the transfer of funds. The transfer of exactly $664,747 from the county’s communications fund to its communications capital fund is now part of a county budget amendment that is scheduled for a public hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 16, before its expected approval by the Lewis County Board of Commissioners.
According to the county, the shortfall was first discovered at the end of August as county staff in the auditor’s office were asked to help 911 staff with managing project contracts and grants. During the process, county staff discovered the shortfall and its different sources.
At least $200,000 of the shortfall is due to a lack of calculating sales tax for a portion of the contracts for essential work being done to upgrade communications infrastructure, including radio equipment and towers across the county. The rest comes from a series of additional expenses on similar projects that were approved by the department's former Director Jennifer Libby-Jones, but never brought in front of the Lewis County Board of Commissioners.
According to Barrett, that was a major error and violation of county policy, which requires any expense changes to contracts that have a total cost more than $350,000 to be approved by the county commissioners. While county staff have not yet provided the relevant contracts, Barrett said that all of the relevant contracts were well over that threshold, with the collective work costing upward of $5 million.
Unsurprisingly, both the Lewis County Board of Commissioners and Lewis County 911 Executive Board showed frustration at the issue that at least in part has already affected the county in the past.
During the meeting early in the week with the Lewis County Board of Commissioners, Commissioner Lindsey Pollock asked Butler and Barrett what would be done to avoid the same mistake in the future, “given that this is not our first issue with sales tax. What are we doing going forward?”
Members of the 911 executive board asked similar questions.
During the meeting, Barrett explained that Lewis County does not have a countywide grant administrator or individual who keeps tabs on all the grants going to fund different projects and departments. Instead, each department handles applying for and managing its own grants.
To avoid the issue in the future, Barrett notified both the 911 executive board and the Board of Lewis County Commissioners that the county would begin scheduling regular check-ins between county departments and county staff that handle auditing and infrastructure. Barrett added that updates from those check-ins will go to the 911 executive board and the Lewis County commissioners.
“Ongoing updates will be provided to the executive board to ensure transparency and alignment on project progress and funding,” Barrett said. “And if anybody has other suggestions or recommendations, we’re all ears.”
