The West Linn City Council on June 23 unanimously adopted the city’s biennial budget and capital improvement program for the 2026–27 fiscal biennium, approved a series of companion resolutions that update fees and state-certifications, and adopted a supplemental budget and fund consolidation to align accounts with the adopted plan.

The council approved the permanent property tax rate of $2.12 per $1,000 of assessed value for each fiscal year of the biennium, and adopted bonded debt levies of $1,851,000 for fiscal year 2025–26 and $1,862,000 for fiscal year 2026–27. Council members voted unanimously on each item.

City finance staff told the council the package reflects changes the budget committee recommended after May hearings, including new appropriations for the West Linn Chamber of Commerce and Main Street grants and corresponding reductions in some departmental material-and-service accounts to balance the biennium. The council approved the updates to the master fee schedule (effective July 1, 2025) to help balance the first year of the budget.

Among items the council adopted:
- A state revenue-sharing declaration required to receive State of Oregon funds; staff estimated about $320,000 for each fiscal year of the biennium. No public testimony was offered on that item.
- Certification that West Linn is eligible to receive state-shared revenues (cigarette, liquor, 911 and highway/gas taxes). Staff said the gas-tax portion of the revenues is projected at about $2.2 million per year based on League of Oregon Cities projections.
- A revised master fee schedule with several adjustments: system development charges indexed to ENR CCI (a 2.78% increase reported by staff), a 5% increase to utility billing fees (water, sewer, surface water, streets and parks), roughly 5% increases to administrative fees and business licenses, modest increases to parks rental fees and adjustments to GIS and library fees. Staff noted a charter limit that allows only up to 5% increases for certain utility fees.
- Adoption of the biennial budget and capital improvement plan, including the appropriations described during the budget committee process. The budget included additions recommended by the budget committee: $35,000 in each fiscal year for the Chamber of Commerce (total $70,000) and $30,000 in each fiscal year for Main Street grants (total $60,000). To offset those additions, contingency was reduced by $60,000 for the biennium and line items in several departments were reduced (city manager, planning, information technology and human resources).
- A supplemental budget for the 2024–25 biennium (scrivener’s error in the resolution title was noted and corrected) to capture items that arose after adoption of the prior budget. The supplemental increased the council department appropriation (about $100,000) to reflect a voter-approved stipend increase and added approximately $161,000 to city facilities for higher utility and maintenance costs. The supplemental also reclassified subscription-based IT costs under new accounting guidance (GASB 96), increasing debt service by roughly $611,000, and added about $400,000 to non-departmental materials-and-services mainly for legal costs related to litigation identified by staff. The library appropriation was increased by about $20,000 to cover unexpected salary and benefit costs.
- A resolution to abolish four special-revenue funds (parks and recreation, public safety, library fund and planning fund) and consolidate their balances into the general fund under ORS 294.353; staff said the move simplifies budgeting and accounting and will be completed after year-end reconciliation (effective 06/30/2025).
- Approval of the budget committee’s recommended community grants for fiscal year 2026. Staff reported $25,000 is available annually; this year the city received 24 applications totaling more than $85,000. The council approved the committee’s allocation as presented.

Council members spent time during discussion addressing the modest departmental reductions the budget committee recommended. Staff and the city manager characterized most of those cuts as small reductions in professional and technical services, subscriptions and similar material-and-service expenditures; they said some departments also carry timing-related buffers (for example, an expected vacancy in planning) that should reduce immediate operational impact. Councilors voiced concern about the information-technology reduction because IT supports citywide systems, and several members asked staff to monitor spending closely and bring a supplemental budget if needed.

Members also discussed the city’s long-range fiscal outlook. Staff noted projections show a sizable general-fund deficit several years out (staff cited a roughly $9 million shortfall by fiscal year 2028–29 in the materials presented during discussion). Councilors agreed the forecast makes it important to begin community conversations and planning now to identify revenue or service changes before the next budget cycle.

The council held the required public hearings on the state revenue-sharing certification, the state-shared revenues certification, the biennial budget and the supplemental budget. No members of the public signed up to testify on any of those items.

The motions on the resolutions were moved and seconded by council members during the meeting as recorded in the minutes; each resolution passed on unanimous roll-call votes.

The council also directed staff to return with follow-up materials as needed during the biennium and specifically asked that the community-grants process be reviewed to consider whether clearer scoring or objective criteria should be used in future cycles.

The adopted budget and related resolutions take effect as specified in the adopted documents; staff will complete year-end reconciliations and the fund consolidation at fiscal year close.