Job Summary

The Budget Office is dedicated to ensuring the budget process is transparent. We promote open communication with all departments and elected officials and strive to provide outstanding customer service.

The Clark County Budget Office is responsible for making data-driven recommendations that support the development of a strategic, fiscally responsible, long-term county budget following state requirements specified by RCW 36.40. The Budget Office promotes open communication with all departments and elected officials' offices and strives to find solutions within existing resources that comply with Clark County Council-directed policies and guidance.

Clark County’s budget process follows state requirements specified by RCW 36.40. The council is the county’s legislative authority and implements policy by allocating funding to county departments and elected offices. The county manager takes policy directions from the council and guides the Budget Office, which is responsible for coordinating, preparing, and updating the county budget. The county manager recommends a balanced budget to the council that fulfills their policy direction and is within the resources available to the county.

The Budget Office is integrally involved in each step of the fundamental processes of local government budgeting including planning, budgeting, and monitoring. The Budget Office leads many countywide financial projects, plays a key role in the development and adoption of financial policies, leads the formal budget development process to include several funding advisory committees, monitors and forecasts revenues and expenses, provides support to departments and elected officials for budget preparation and submission, manages budgeting software, develops forms and procedures as needed, ensures compliance with all state and local budget requirements, and reports updates and findings to the county manager and to the council.

The budget preparation process includes four typical steps followed by public officials, both elected and appointed. These steps include the administrative preparation of the budget, the legislative approval of the budget, the financial implementation of the budget and the annual year-end accounting and financial reporting. This position serves as a bridge position between the budget adoption/financial strategic plan and the actual financial performance of the organization.

This position is required to work in-person at the Budget Office and does not offer hybrid or remote work options.

Qualifications

As one of the key positions within the Clark County Budget Office, the Financial Program Manager II position is a vital part of the county’s overall budget cycle. 

This position is responsible for analyzing countywide financial reports and data to report actual financial performance and to predict future performance of: funds, departments, specific revenue streams and categories, programs, specific expense categories, etc. 

In addition, this position will be responsible for leading countywide financial projects in coordination with the Budget Director.  The Budget Office has implemented Questica Budget Software and a separate Capital Budget. Future goals for the office include the implementation of a digital budget book, program-based budgeting projects, aligning the budget process to align with strategic goals more closely, and developing countywide financial performance measures. Some examples of current and future projects are Program Budgeting Project, Budget Office Procedures Documentation, Development of the Questica Budget Performance and OpenBook Modules for county-specific use, County-wide Fund Management, Fund Balance Policies, Digital Budget Book, Funding Advisory Committee development and facilitation, and Fee Schedule projects.

Analysis and processes should be based on GFOA, MSRC, WFOA, PMI, and ICMA best practices as well as the following:

• Grow financial performance through analysis of financial results, forecasts, variances, and trends.
• Create recommendations to be presented to management and executives.
• Develop financial models to support monitoring, planning, and forecasting.
• Aid in the capital budgeting and expenditures planning process.
• Reconcile incoming and outgoing data.
• and economic research to support internal financial analysis.
• Maintain up-to-date technical knowledge of financial instruments, economic conditions, and trends.

• Perform financial forecasting, reporting, and operational metrics tracking.
• Analyst financial data and create financial models for decision support.
• Report of financial performance and prepare for regular leadership reviews.
• Analyze past results, perform variance analysis, identify trends, and make