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City manager previews 2026–27 budget; residents urge restoring deep proposed library cuts
Summary
City Manager Mike Sarowine briefed the council on audit-driven adjustments that reduced the general fund and proposed a new library model (one head librarian plus volunteers); residents and speakers cited Oregon statute 357.621 and urged public hearings and restoration of funding.
City Manager Mike Sarowine presented a preview of the 2026–27 budget at the Cottage Grove City Council meeting, describing substantial accounting corrections and short-term reductions that shaped a tight general fund and a set of proposed service changes—most notably a restructured library model and deep cuts to library staffing.
Sarowine said delayed audits and discovered accounting errors in fiscal-year 2023–24 required corrections that reduced the city’s current-year budget by $4.54 million through capital reductions (about $2.52 million), reduced ending fund balances and other adjustments. He said staff implemented new procedures to prevent recurrence and that the objective is to close the general-fund gap over a three-year process.
As an example of program impacts, he described a proposed model that would move the…
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