July 18, 2016

Last month, Council officially adopted a budget to guide our work in the 2016-2017 fiscal year.

Within that budget, we prioritized investments in housing affordability, public safety, safe roads and sidewalks, and neighborhood prosperity.

While the budget included $25 million in new money above the forecast, we once again asked bureaus to prepare 5% cut packages. That discussion helped Council understand the top priorities of each bureau and make important decisions about how to allocate funds citywide.

For the third year in a row, I directed the utilities to bring a combined rate increase below 5% - and they delivered, coming in at 4.45% thanks in part to our partnership with the Citizen’s Utility Board of Oregon. And we continued to exercise discipline with ratepayer dollars, funding Parks fountain operations and historic preservation work at Mt. Tabor with the General Fund.

And this year we returned 5.9% of my office budget to the General Fund, more than $59,000. This money will be available to fund future Council priorities.