City Council Adopts $175.9 Million 2019-20 Budget

The Corvallis City Council voted on June 17 to approve an annual budget totaling $175,974,200 for Fiscal Year 2019-2020. The Council’s action was the final step in the annual budget process, which began in May with a series of Budget Commission meetings and included deliberations, analysis and feedback from the public.

The new budget goes into effect on July 1, when the City of Corvallis begins its new fiscal year.

In a quirk of timing, the exact structure of this year’s budget was in limbo pending the results of the May 21 election, which included a five-year local option levy ballot measure to support services in Parks and Recreation and the Library. Because City officials could not make assumptions about the outcome of the levy vote, the proposed budget was initially constructed without any of the services and programs that will be funded through the levy. After the levy passed with a margin of nearly 73%, the Budget Commission met in late May and adopted a resolution restoring services for the Library and Parks and Recreation.

The local option levy is an important part of the “three-legged stool” that has come to define the current funding approach for City services. The City Council implemented the first leg of the stool in 2018 by creating new public safety fees to fund increased services at the Corvallis Police Department and Corvallis Fire Department. The second leg was the levy, which supported the Library and Parks and Recreation. The third leg of the stool will be a proposed 911 service district for Benton County, which would replace the current, outdated agreement and create a more equitable funding model for 911 emergency dispatch services in the community.

“This budget reflects the significant progress that has been made to develop a long-term, sustainable funding model that will serve the Corvallis community in the future,” said City Manager Mark Shepard. “I’m pleased with the progress so far, and I’m excited to see where Corvallis will go from here.”

For more information on the budget process for the City of Corvallis, go to www.corvallisoregon.gov/budget.