Lane County budget committee approves FY2025-26 budget, adopts local-option levies and transient room tax uses

The Lane County Budget Committee voted unanimously to approve the county's fiscal year 2025-26 budget and a slate of local-option taxes and levies, also authorizing specific uses of transient room tax dollars and several technical budget adjustments.

The vote approved the budget as presented by county staff and included motions to adopt the county's permanent property tax rate (as presented to the committee), a local-option tax of 55 cents per $1,000 of assessed value for jail and youth treatment beds (50 cents for jail services, 5 cents for youth services), a levy to support 4-H and Oregon State University extension (as presented), a 16-cent-per-$1,000 levy to fund Lane County parks, and the use of transient room tax dollars for the Lane Events Center and the Parks Division in dollar amounts shown in committee materials. The committee also approved a set of additions, reductions and technical adjustments to the FY25-26 budget.

County staff framed the vote against a backdrop of what they called a structural revenue shortfall and programmatic strain. "We have the largest reduction in positions, in full time equivalent positions that we've had in over a decade," said…