Oregon City Council recently approved its 2019 municipal budget.
City Administrator Mike Beazley at a council meeting on Dec. 17 thanked city officials for their work on the budget.
“We made a statement of priorities for the year,” he said of the budget. “We recognize that a budget is just a plan and an estimate, and that it changes from month to month through the year. But it’s good for us to go through the process.”
Beazley said Oregon, like most communities, spends the vast majority of the general fund on public safety, police, fire and courts.
“The budget is spent on making the community work. Overall, our capital investment focuses on maintaining our roads, and on our water and sewer infrastructure,” said Beazley. “We feel good about that process. We have things to resolve during the year. We’re excited about the projects that council has identified for us to work on. We’ll look forward to continue to explore those together during the coming year.”
Property acquisition
Councilman James Seaman, who is chairman of the Finance Committee, told The Press last week that the total amount of appropriations in the budget was just over $30 million.
Some of the new expenses include the underground installation of overhead lines from Isaac Streets Drive to Coy Road on Navarre Avenue, and the purchase of property as part of the city’s downtown development project.
“We’re shifting into a land acquisition phase. We’re looking to purchase four significant pieces of land for future downtown development,” he said. The property is in a corridor just south of the former K-Mart on Navarre up to Pickle Road near the YMCA, he added.
“We’re not looking to make a profit with this land. We want to sell it to developers to create some jobs and make improvements to our quality of life for our residents. That’s our payoff,” he said.
Aging waterlines
Other new expenses include local road and sidewalk improvements, upgrades in the fire and police departments, a new roof and parking lot for the senior center on Navarre Ave., and the replacement of waterlines.
“We’re planning a lot of waterline upgrades. Some of our waterlines are quite old. We have to have money set aside to make improvements. Some of our lines are over 90 years old,” he said. “They’re starting to have problems, and we have to go in and fix them.”
Improvements in the police department include the purchase of four new police cruisers. The fire department will see changes to improve response times to emergency calls. The department plans to expand the hours to run the Echo unit, which is a full rescue vehicle, from 12 hours to 24 hours per day.
The department will also be paying specific people on staff to be available to respond to calls. Also, there are plans to hire additional Advanced Life Support (ALS) officers. For the first time in Oregon, the ALS unit and BLS (Basic Life Support) unit will be operating full time.
At the Dec. 17 council meeting, Seaman thanked officials for their their work on the budget, which was discussed at length in several Finance Committee meetings.
“There was great participation from council,” he said. “Everyone showed a deep interest in this process.”
County Commissioners' Schedule 3/25 - 3/29 Thank you for your continued interest in the Board of County Commissioners! Some of this week’s upcoming commissioner hearings and meetings are detailed below. Complete and updated information is available on the board’s webpage . Remember: Your County Commissioners want residents to be involved! The public is welcome to sit in on any Policy Session or the Business Meeting, and you can always make public comments at the latter. Tuesday, March 26 Policy Sessions Public Health Environment Health Program Fees (10:30 a.m.) New Community Advisory Committee on Road Spending (1:30 p.m.) Assessor Fee Change Relating to Budget (2 p.m.) CCSO Proposed Fees and Fines Changes for FY19-20 (2:30 p.m.) DTD Fee & Fine Modifications, FY 2020 Proposals (3 p.m.) Visit the Policy Session page . ...
County Commissioners' Schedule 3/4 - 3/8 Thank you for your continued interest in the Board of County Commissioners! Some of this week’s upcoming commissioner hearings and meetings are detailed below. Complete and updated information is available on the board’s webpage . Remember: Your County Commissioners want residents to be involved! The public is welcome to sit in on any Policy Session or the Business Meeting, and you can always make public comments at the latter. Please note: There are no Policy Sessions scheduled this week, as most commissioners are attending a National Association of Counties' (NACo) conference in Washington, DC. Visit the policy session page . Thursday, March 7 Business Meeting (10 a.m.) There are no public presentations or hearings outside of the regular consent agenda. Read the full agenda . Last week L...
2019 RiverHealth Stewardship Program Grants The application period for the 2019 RiverHealth Stewardship Program grants, administered by #ClackCo Water Environment Services (WES), is now open! Grants of up to $30,000 are available to groups within the Portland metropolitan area who seek to improve the health of watersheds located within the surface water areas served by WES . The application deadline is April 30. Preferred proposals will improve watershed health, be visible to the general public, show a clear community benefit, and include one or more of the following project types: · Rainwater infiltration: Achieved through the installation of rain gardens, stormwater planters, pervious paving, or eco-roofs. · Streamside restoration: Performed through planting native v...
