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Bend council trims work‑plan scope, asks staff for clearer priorities and an early funding discussion
Summary
At a lengthy work session, councilors used a ranked survey to signal which proposed actions to delay or prioritize in the city's biennial work plan; staff will return in early June with a tightened proposal and plan a holistic funding discussion in early 2026.
City staff and councilors on Tuesday spent most of a work session running a prioritization exercise on the city’s six strategic goals, asking council to select items to delay to the next biennium and to identify a short list for accelerated action.
The staff presentation summarized the council goals and the 18 strategies beneath them, noting that about half the listed actions would create new or expanded programs and that many require dedicated staff. “About 50% of the items result in a new or expanded program,” a staff member told council, arguing that the city’s staffing and budget limits mean trade‑offs are inevitable.
Staff asked councilors to use an online survey to choose actions to delay or revisit and to flag foundational items that the city must preserve. Councilors repeatedly requested clearer linkage between tools and outcomes — for example, which incentives would most directly produce middle‑income housing, or how short‑term actions might be sequenced so staff can keep existing programs running.
Council feedback highlighted several themes:
- Protect a short list of foundational initiatives (for example, the state‑required growth plan update) while allowing staff to move other items to later years. Several councilors asked staff to mark which items are legally required and which are discretionary.
- Look for short wins: councilors asked staff to identify low‑lifting actions the city could implement before the end of the year and to distinguish those from projects that require new staff or voter approval.
- Group funding conversations: council members asked that major funding conversations (transportation, housing, police and fire long‑term funding) be coordinated rather than treated as separate one‑off hearings.
- Leave space for engagement: some councilors said rapid timelines should not preclude meaningful public outreach where code or policy changes affect neighborhoods.
Next steps: staff will collect council survey results, produce an updated work‑plan recommendation for the June meeting, and schedule a broader funding discussion early next year to reconcile capital and operating priorities across police, fire, transportation and housing.
Ending: Council members said they would return to the prioritization exercise when staff brings the revised plan, seeking a clearer view of the staff time and budget each proposed action requires.
