Adams County Auditor presents county finances to commissioners

RITZVILLE — Adams County Auditor Heidi Hunt presented to the Adams County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday during the commissioner’s regular meeting on the County’s current financial position compared to previous years.

“I just think it's really good for us to look at where we are now, and where we've been,” Hunt said. “Because if we are rolling backward, you want to be careful. You want to watch: what direction are we going, at what percentage, and how quickly is it falling?”

Hunt presented reports on previous years’ balances and expenditures.

“Basically you're seeing, from September through December, the treasurer’s cash balance, and you're looking at, like, last year at this time in current expense we had $3.4 million. We're at $2.5 million now,” Hunt said. “We had $3.5 million in 2021 … (You can) just see the trend and you want to kind of watch that.”

Adams County Prosecutor Randy Flyckt asked what might be a possible cause of September 2023’s cash balance being nearly $1 million lower than in 2022.

Hunt said that some of the decrease in balance is likely due to increased spending in the county, and could also be due to funding gained during the COVID-19 pandemic going away over time.

“There was a lot of grant monies throughout that pandemic cycle,” she said.

Adams County’s $2.5 million September 2023 cash balance is about where the number sat at year-end in 2019, according to the presentation, and about $650,000 less than 2022’s year-end cash balance.

Hunt’s presentation demonstrated an increase in county expenditures by about $1 million since 2021, and by almost $700,000 since 2022.

“Our costs have definitely risen,” she said.

Hunt also said it was possible the increase was at least partially due to wage increases for county employees, as well as increased insurance deductibles for those employees.

Hunt said she is still reviewing revenue histories and will likely have a report the next time she presents to the commissioners, but she said it is most likely down as well due to lack of COVID-related grant money.

“One of the things we always challenge our department heads and elected officials to do during budget season is, don't just tell us what you want to spend, tell us how you're going to pay for it,” Hunt said. “Talk to your associations, talk to your legislative liaisons, find out what new funding sources there might be.”

According to the presentation, the county’s total projected revenues for 2024 are about $12.3 million, and the requested expenditures for 2024 are approximately $14.5 million.

“So that's what we're looking at right now, is we're looking at using $2.158 million of ending balance cash to balance this budget, and right now we only have $2.546 million,” Hunt said.

Based on this budget estimate, which Heidi said was updated Sept. 13, the county would have about $400,000 cash balance left, which the county will have to work to increase either by increasing revenue or decreasing requested expenditures, in order to retain enough operating cash for state audit requirements and other bills.

“That's where we have the work to do,” Hunt said. “This is just this is a conversation we have to have.”

Gabriel Davis may be reached at gdavis@columbiabasinherald.com. Download the Columbia Basin Herald app on iOS and Android.