Multnomah County unveils final three-year strategic plan; FY27 to pilot budget alignment

Multnomah County leaders presented the final draft of a three-year countywide strategic plan and said the fiscal year 2027 process will pilot integrating the plan with budget decisions.

Christopher Neil, the county chief operating officer, told the Board of Commissioners the plan — developed with more than 140 staff and public input — is intended to move departments from outputs to measurable outcomes. "We actually just put the full plan up on our public website," Neil said, and later pledged, "it's not gonna be some dust sitting on a shelf." The plan groups county work into five interconnected elements: focus areas, outcomes, indicators, measures and strategies.

The plan will emphasize equity and data disaggregation, the presenters said. Lisonbee Sachet of the Evaluation & Research Unit said the community pulse survey drew 463 responses and showed broad support: "This is a sufficient sample size for a 95 confidence interval for a population the size of Multnomah County," and staff reported many outcomes were liked or loved by more than 80% of respondents. Staff described substantive changes since an August draft: measures were rewritten to focus on outcomes, language was tightened, equity metrics were integrated, and SMART-formatted targets were adopted.

Staff laid out a schedule to connect the plan with the FY27 budget. The Spark team will release a first dashboard populated with FY26 information by Feb. 1; departments will submit proposed budgets Feb. 6 and the dashboard will be updated March 1. The chair's proposed budget is scheduled for April 16, and a version of the dashboard will be available to the board on May 1 to compare FY26 actuals with FY27 proposals. After budget adoption in early June, staff plan to finalize dashboard elements and set FY27 SMART goals.

The presenters described an ongoing implementation approach that includes monthly or quarterly leadership and data work groups, identification of departmental "data stewards," and an evaluation of existing data infrastructure led by the Evaluation & Research Unit. Sam Ashby, director of strategic initiatives, said measures and indicators will be evaluated annually and revised as needed to ensure the plan remains a "living tool." He described indicators as the status checks that will show whether efforts are on track, at risk or off track.

Commissioners welcomed the plan's framework and its integration with budget but used the Q&A to press for additional specificity. Several asked for clearer language on disparities, denominators for percentage metrics, and more robust data collection across departments before FY27 baselines are set. Staff acknowledged the FY27 pilot year may produce "clunky" data as systems align and said identifying and filling data gaps will be part of the budget conversation.

The next procedural steps described by staff are dashboard releases and budget calendar milestones through May and June, with formal plan implementation and performance management beginning July 1 of the implementation year. The county has posted the plan and supporting materials on its public website.