Philomath budget panel trims proposed city services fee to about $5, recommends $34.9M budget

The Philomath Budget Review Committee voted June 22 to recommend a $34,874,485 fiscal year 2026'27 budget to City Council after approving a package of departmental reductions and reserve adjustments that reduced the proposed city services fee revenue by $259,200.

Chris Dossack, a budget committee member, opened the committee's series of motions by proposing targeted, temporary reductions across departments to limit the size of the fee: "I move that the budget review committee approve a budget for the fiscal year beginning 07/01/2026 and ending 06/30/2027 for the preliminary renewal... with total requirements of $3,576,010," Dossack said, presenting the approach he had circulated in advance. (Dossack framed his proposals as temporary shortfalls to be revisited once urban renewal revenues return.)

The committee approved a slate of smaller cuts by voice vote: reductions to planned deposits for land, building and equipment savings; decreases to the city council allocation for community support; modest cuts to administration, building-permit and finance budgets; and smaller cuts in municipal court, parks and streets transfers. Many motions passed unanimously or by comfortable margins after brief deliberations; committee members repeatedly emphasized that most cuts were intended as a short-term "belt-tightening" until the Urban Renewal Agency sunsets and related revenue returns.

Why it matters: the committee's reductions, combined with lowering targeted fee revenue by $259,200, produced a budget recommendation that its supporters said will blunt the burden on residents while preserving many core services. Opponents argued the committee should not reduce spending lines that affect employee training or impede a council-directed police compensation strategy negotiated in executive session.

Police pay and bargaining in focus

A recurring and contentious point was police compensation. Committee members and staff described prior council direction to negotiate more competitive police pay; staff said some elements of the compensation work were still in bargaining and thus not yet public. "If this motion is approved, we will not be able to fulfill the direction that we were given by the city council during that executive session," a staff member warned when larger police reductions were proposed.

After several attempts, the committee approved a small $4,000 reduction to the police outreach/travel/car-wash lines and rejected larger cuts (a motion to reduce police spending by $60,380 failed). Members who opposed deeper cuts said training and certification are mandatory and that removing funding could undermine bargaining outcomes and officer retention.

Reserves and fee sizing

Committee members debated using reserves rather than cuts to narrow the fee. After discussion and a motion to reduce some reserved amounts, the panel adopted the combined package that lowered the fee revenue target by $259,200 (vote recorded 9'2). One member described the result as a compromise that makes a smaller, more politically palatable fee (roughly $5 per household per month, according to staff calculations) plausible for Council consideration while leaving options'including voter measures'for future years.

Outcome and next steps

The committee formally voted to recommend the FY2026'27 budget to the Philomath City Council (total requirements $34,874,485). It also voted the property tax rate as presented for the coming fiscal year. The committee's recommendation goes next to the full City Council for adoption; several members said they plan to raise their concerns and preferences again at Council.

What was left unresolved: committee members explicitly left open the question of whether a fee should be replaced by a voter-approved levy in a subsequent year; they asked staff to return clearer triage lists (department-by-department "what gets cut" guides) for future deliberations.

The committee adjourned at 8:56 p.m.