Small Agency Services Bulletin - Jan. 2026

Jan. 2026

Important Dates Important Messages Small Agency Financial Services News Travel Tips Contact Us

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Please send your feedback about the Department of Enterprise Services' (DES) Small Agency Financial Services (SAFS). Your feedback helps us improve and better meet your needs. Finance welcomes your feedback at any time.

 Important Dates

Jan. 30

  • 2027-29 Compensation Impact Model (CIM) due to OFM (see details below)

Jan. 31

  • Sick leave buyouts are due to DES Payroll

Feb. 2

Feb. 6

  • To reflect in your agency's January monthly financial statements, all invoices and travel reimbursement requests are due to accounts payable.

Feb. 17

  • Payroll timesheets Due

Feb. 27

  • Federal Assistance Certification Form (disclosure) is due to OFM.

Mar. 2

  • Payroll timesheets Due

Mar. 12

  • Wrap up of the 2026 "short" Legislative Session. The Legislature will work through the state holidays (Martin Luther King Jr. Day & President's Day) as well.

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 Important Messages

Compensation Impact Model (CIM)
update of agency compensation Data for 2027-29 for collective bargaining and budget development is due Jan. 30, 2026

With the start of a new biennium, the Office of Financial Management (OFM) State Human Resources and Budget divisions are gearing up to collect compensation data for the 2027-29 collective bargaining process that begins in March 2026 and for budget development later that year.

Please review OFM's instructions.

Your DES Small Agency Budget Analyst will send you a Salary Projection System (SPS) report for your review and updates. Once you’ve provided the updates, we will submit them through SPS by OFM’s deadline.

Legislative Session is underway

January 12 was the first day of the 2026 Legislative Session. Please remember that agencies have three days to respond to fiscal notes during session, with a priority for fiscal note requests. Agencies that have experienced staff turnover are reminded to make sure appropriate staff have access to the systems necessary to the fiscal note process.

Department of Revenue – Unclaimed Property

Each year businesses and state agencies report unclaimed money or property to the Department of Revenue (DOR). Individuals or businesses can check to see if DOR is holding money or property that belongs to them. Check it out and Claim Your Cash.

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 Small Agency Financial Services News

Upcoming payroll deadlines

  • Those eligible for sick leave buyouts need to have signed forms returned by Jan. 31, 2026. The buyouts are paid out on the Feb. 10, 2026 check.
  • 2025 W-2 forms will be available no later than Jan. 31, 2026 via MyPortal. If you did not opt in for electronic W-2 forms, they will be mailed out to the address on file.
  • Have questions? Email despayroll@des.wa.gov or submit a Payroll Request form.

Payroll information

  • We recommend that all correspondence and forms are sent using the Payroll Request form or to the despayroll@des.wa.gov inbox. Items sent via these methods are ticketed and monitored for completion.
  • Reminder that Payroll Journals need to be signed prior to payday per SAAM 25.20.30 & RCW 41.06.270 and returned by the due date mentioned in the email that is sent with the journal.
  • Once the payroll journals are signed, they should be sent back to DES Payroll for retention.

SAFS (Small Agency Financial Services) team updates

Did you know? Your DES financial support team consists of ALL of our SAFS team members. Even though you may work with specific SAFS members regularly, other SAFS members often step in to assist and provide continuity of services. We would like you to know about our whole SAFS team. Below is a list of each work group within SAFS, the members you may hear from, and recent news or a message from each team.

Accounts payable

Team members:

  • Diana Huynh - Supervisor
  • Riley Hyland - Sr. Lead
  • Kaler Pearson - Sr. Lead
  • Bryn Parker - Lead
  • Forest Pope - Accounting Analyst
  • Kyler Oblad - Accounting Analyst

Accounts receivable

Team members:

  • Betti Bartoldo - Supervisor
  • Stacey Millsap - Sr. Lead
  • Jenifer Mobley - Accounting Analyst
  • Brandy Leitgeb - Accounting Analyst
  • Sarah Palazzo - Cash Receipts Specialist
  • Sean Garcia - Cash Receipts Specialist

Budget

Team members:

  • Diann Lewallen
  • Seth Flory
  • Ian Shelley
  • Christina Shearer
  • Annis Jones

Team message: Legislative session is demanding, but our ability to stay connected and support one another is what carries us through. Grateful to be in this together.

Payroll

Team members:

  • Rachel Rodgers – Manager
  • Molly Guinan – Supervisor
  • Kayla Preble – Lead
  • Nichole Dahlin – Processor
  • Amber Roberts – Processor
  • Vanno Non - Garnishments
  • Adam Oskvig – Out of State Taxes
  • Treyson Ramos – Retirement Specialist
  • Brandy Butterfield – Benefits Specialist
  • Malachi Riedl - Time and Attendance Processor

Team message: One of the most powerful things in the world. If you have your team, you have everything.

Administrative ssistance

Team members:

  • Makaila Barbella

DES accounts payable statistics for Dec. 2025 (34 agencies served)

Invoices received from agency 1,784 77.33% $10,601,458
Invoices paid on delegated authority 439 19.03% $1,359,084
Travel requests paid through TEMS 76 3.29% $25,477
Payments reissued (SOL, Lost Warrant) 8 0.35% $33,044
Total payments processed 2,307 100% $12,019,063

Quarterly DES accounts receivable statistics for Oct., Nov., Dec. (25 agencies served)

Invoices produced 1,204 $3,959,874
Revenue recorded 1,940 $14,845,440
Expenditure reductions recorded 776 $2,266,610
Accounts receivable FTEs completing the work 3.25  

DES payroll statistics for Dec. 2025 (42 agencies served)

Total employees paid 1,176
Appointment changes 2
New hires/rehires 5
Separations 8
Supplemental payments/walk throughs 0
Overpayments 6

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 Travel Tips

Mileage reimbursement rates

The standard mileage reimbursements rate for privately owned vehicles (POV) has increased to $0.725 effective January 1, 2026. Travelers requesting reimbursement through TEMS will not need to make any adjustments because the system auto-populates the rate based on dates of travel. Travelers using paper vouchers will need to verify the correct rate is used on their reimbursements.

Per diem taxation

Per diem is taxable and will be included on the employee's W-2. When utilizing the Travel and Expense Management Systems (TEMS), the meals must be marked as taxable when applicable.

As always, if you have any questions regarding travel: call SAFS AP at 360-407-8183 or email travel.safs@des.wa.gov.

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 Contact Us

If you would like to know what budget analyst, payroll analyst and HR business partner is assigned to your agency, see our Agency Assignments webpage.

If you would like to get contact information for DES SAFS and HR staff, see our Contacts webpage.

If you have suggestions or feedback about the Small Agency Services Bulletin, please send your comments to SmallAgencyBulletin@des.wa.gov.

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