County double checks timber revenue

Wahkiakum County officials are a bit closer to understanding the county's financial health after meeting with representatives of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on Tuesday.

The DNR manages the county's 12,900 acres of trust timberland, and harvest of timber is an important revenue for the county's Current Expense Fund, which finances most courthouse services.

DNR Regional Manager Marcus Johns and Forester Collin Robertson reported the county could expect to receive $1.2 million in timber revenue, but after county Treasurer Paula Holloway questioned their figures, they said they would go back to their office and double check.

Holloway commented that the figures which Johns presented for timber sale deposits didn't jibe with what she had received.

Johns said he had based his figures on the figures which Robertson had reported directly from timber sale contracts.

Holloway and Johns acknowledged that the payments to the county had come from the DNR offices in Olympia, where staff have been implementing a new accounting program.

Last year, an error attributed to the DNR led to a revenue shortfall for the county. This January, the agency reported another error and sent the county a check for $120,000 which it should have received in 2008.

Johns, Holloway and Commissioners Dan Cothren and Blair Brady agreed that careful reporting is needed for accuracy to avoid similar errors.

If the numbers which Johns presented are accurate, it's good news for the county.

County officials had expected last fall to receive $1.3 million in timber sale revenue this year. DNR staff later told them the number would be closer to $880,000 because some of the sale proceeds should actually go to another trust beneficiary.

However, on Tuesday, Johns said the county should receive $1.26 million from the Nagasawa Pass sale, $105,962 from the North Fork Mill Creek sale, and $22,796 from the Jibber Jabber sale.

The Dark Roast sale should generate about $1.1 million in 2010, Johns said, and the agency will offer another sale on May 28 that should produce $282,823 in revenue for the county.

Johns added that the estimates are based on sale prices of $152 per thousand board feet, which is about $200 below the price used to calculate sale value in 2008.

At the agencies most recent auction, only two of six sales put up for bid were sold, he added.

"There are no markets, no place for the purchasers to take the wood," he said. "The log yards are full."

"In the private sector, just very small volumes are going in," said Commissioner Cothren, who works for Hancock Forest Management.

Holloway, Auditor Diane Tischer and the two commissioners--Commissioner Lisa Marsyla was out of town--met earlier Tuesday at the Treasurer's Finance Committee and discussed the county's financial picture.

With the state's deficit continuing to mount, county officials are leery that the state revenues that have sustained their programs won't appear.

Holloway said that with financial markets in such a mess, interest earnings on investments may be $73,000 short for the year. State revenue from sales and real estate excise taxes will be down, too, she said.

She declined to make an estimate of a potential revenue shortfall for the county.

"In April, we will have a better picture of where we are," she said. "We'll have our quarterly reports."

She also hopes to have verified figures from the DNR of what revenue should be expected.

Brady continues to remind officials and department heads that he would like to see some financial measures go on the fall election ballots.

One measure might ask voter approval to close or transfer some dedicated county reserve funds so the money could be used in the Current Expense fund. Other measures might seek voter support of taxes to pay for park and swimming pool operation and to support the Wahkiakum Family Health Clinic.

"I don't think we can save with layoffs any more," Brady commented.