(The Center Square) – Spokane County rolled out its 2025 preliminary general fund budget on Tuesday.
The general fund is typically the most flexible account and gives a better insight into the county’s finances. The other funds will also roll out budgets in the coming months, but general fund expenditures are currently budgeted for roughly $18.6 million less than in 2024.
Randy Bischoff, the county’s senior director of Finance & Administration, told the Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday that the budget office readded all vacant positions. This is after the county eliminated those positions a few weeks ago to save just over $10 million.
“We added all vacant positions back in because the department heads or elected officials know their business better,” he said, “so they really should be the ones that say, ‘I don’t need these positions.’”
Instead, Bischoff said each department identified what cuts they needed to make to meet their budget goal, including eliminating some vacant positions. After all the cuts, the county’s general fund expenditures are projected to reach $247.2 million, or 7% less than budgeted in 2024.
However, that doesn’t include any capital expenditures, he said. General fund revenues are projected to reach $257.2 million, leaving the county with a $10 million cushion, but that’s assuming that the officials can identify another $14.6 million in expenditure cuts.
Bischoff said if those cuts aren’t identified, the county will face an approximately $5 million deficit with no money for capital expenditures. While that’s not a favorable outcome, he said it’s a step in the right direction after starting the process in a $20 million hole.
The largest expenditure in the preliminary budget is for salaries and wages at $133.5 million, which is roughly $10 million, or 8%, more than budgeted in 2024. The second largest expense is “services” at $60.8 million, about $5.2 million, or 7.8% less than in 2024. The third largest is employee benefits at $50.1 million, roughly $3.5 million, or 7.5%, more than budgeted for 2024.
Next week, the commissioner will go through each department’s funding request and will be able to go through each ask, weighing how much they’re over or under budget along the way.
Bischoff said there is some money in the county’s reserves, which they could use to balance the budget if needed, but that’s ultimately up to the commissioners.
“They had a really short time,” Bischoff said regarding the departmental cuts. “They did a lot of good work in [just over a week], but I knew we wouldn’t be complete by today, so that’s why we’re doing a summary roll-up today.”
The county will host three public roundtable discussions between Sept. 24 and Nov. 5 before the final budget adoption hearing on Dec. 2.
