PORT ANGELES — Clallam County is back on track to meeting a targeted goal of using no more than $1.5 million in reserves by year’s end, County Administrator Jim Jones said Monday.
A combination of increased revenue and across-the-board spending cuts has put a significant dent in a budgeted $2.7 million draw on general fund reserves.
Jones had projected a $1.75 million draw on the rainy day fund in a mid-year budget review last month.
“I saw this explosion of expenditures but not the revenue, and then the revenue came in for those expenditures during July,” Jones told commissioners in their monthly budget performance review.
“So I’m back to thinking $1.5 million is a real realistic number.”
The monthly projections are based on three-year comparisons of actual performance.
Through July, Clallam County’s general fund for day-to-day operations was $725,563 in the red. The fund had $20.8 million in actual revenue and $21.5 million in actual expenses.
“We’re actually doing $900,000-plus better than we would have projected, based on the three-year average,” Jones said.
On the revenue side, sales taxes, building permits, park fees, fines and forfeits, and interest income were each ahead of expectations.
Property tax, which is the single largest source of county revenue, was on par with the budget, Jones said.
General fund revenues tend to lag behind expenses until the second half of the year’s property taxes are collected in the fall, Jones added.
Meanwhile, the sale of county timber, intergovernmental revenue and charges for goods and services were “lagging significantly behind” the budget, Jones said.
“It’s becoming more and more certain that none of those are going to catch up before the end of the year,” Jones said.
“It would be a real surprise if they did.”
Jones said the “real good news” was on the expenditure side, where spending was down in salaries, benefits, contracted services, supplies and capital improvements and inter-fund payments and transfers.
“We are still green across the board,” Jones said.
“In fact, our three biggest [spending] categories — salaries, benefits and contracted services, which collectively are responsible for more than 94 percent of all expenditures — are running $2.3 million better than their three-year average base projection,” Jones said.
“I’m expecting all three of these to stay under [budget] throughout the rest of the year, but I do believe they’re going to pick up a little bit, in particular contracted services.”
Contracted services were lagging in July because of recent uncertainty over the state budget, Jones said.
Jones had prepared budget performance reports on a quarterly basis for previous boards.
First-year commissioner Randy Johnson requested monthly financial reports in 2017. The request was supported by Commissioners Mark Ozias and Bill Peach.
“I appreciate being able to see where we are as we go along every month,” Johnson said in the work session.
“This is how you run every business that I’ve ever been involved in.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsula dailynews.com.
