photo by: Journal-World

The west side of the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St.

A one-week delay has produced a nearly $3 million change to a key part of Douglas County’s 2024 finances.

Last week, Douglas County commissioners were told via a memo from county staff — which the Journal-World reported on — that the county’s primary operating account spent $5 million less than it had budgeted to spend in 2024.

The $5 million figure was included as part of an agenda item related to a year-end transfer process where excess funds are moved into special reserve funds and other accounts that act like savings accounts for the county. Those transfers, however, did not end up getting approved by commissioners because last week’s meeting was postponed due to winter weather.

The transfer issue appeared again on the agenda for this week’s meeting, set for 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the Douglas County Courthouse. Staff provided a new memo for this week’s meeting, and it included new figures. Among the new figures: The county’s general fund — its main operating fund — had expenditures that were $2.2 million less than what was budgeted in 2024.

That’s $2.8 million less than what was reported in last week’s memo to commissioners. The new memo did nothing to highlight the change nor explain why the change was made. Douglas County Administrator Sarah Plinsky told the Journal-World on Tuesday that the change was made after the county discovered the $5 million figure included some funds that should not have been counted as a savings. County staff included $2.8 million of money that resides in several funds that the county has planned to eliminate. That $2.8 million of money originally was counted as a savings to the county’s general fund budget, but ultimately should have been accounted for as a budgeted transfer, rather than a true savings.

The latest memo sent to the county commissioners did not highlight that any of the information had been changed from the week prior, and it doesn’t provide an explanation about why it has changed. However, on Wednesday, county commissioners will have to decide how they will allocate these funds.

Among other transfers, the County Commission will be asked to approve $12.5 million in unbudgeted transfers to be made to numerous reserve funds. The money is proposed to be moved to multiple equipment reserve funds for things like sustainability, information technology and sheriff operations, heritage conservation and first responders. As a part of that total, over $9.1 million is recommended to be transferred to the capital improvement plan account and allocated toward specific projects that will be discussed during the county’s 2026 budget process.

Plinsky told the Journal-World on Tuesday that, if the transfers are approved, the capital improvement plan account will have $47.1 million in it and various equipment reserve accounts will have $9.7 million.

Additionally, the Journal-World last week asked Plinsky about whether the proposed budget transfers would comply with the county’s fund balance policy, which seeks to limit the amount of money the county keeps for emergencies or other non-day-to-day operating expenses. Plinsky said last week via email that she would have to further research that issue. That research is ongoing.