City Council Work Session
Council’s work session centered on the 2026 budget, with residents pressing the city on cemetery flower commitments, tax increases, and missing details behind the Neshotah Beach concession stand plan. Members also wrestled with a fee overhaul that would sharply raise building permit costs, but sent staff back for more options.
Budget public hearing drew pointed questions: residents challenged the city’s apparent move to stop ordering cemetery Memorial Day flowers despite past payments, questioned the tax increase and a big jump in “miscellaneous revenue,” and urged the council to fund a modest library increase to avoid service cuts.
Room tax leaders floated a new financing model for the Neshotah Beach concession stand that could cut the city’s direct general-fund share (staff said potentially from $250,000 to $100,000), but council members flagged the core risk: if the revenue doesn’t show up, taxpayers are still on the hook.
Council debated a fee-and-fines overhaul, especially building permits: the draft would shift to a percentage-of-project-cost model that could turn a typical new-home permit from $650 to $5,600 and a large commercial project from $410 to $14,000. Members asked for alternatives and directed staff to return with revised options.
Said the cemetery “perpetual care flower fund” is separate from basic perpetual care, and warned the city told local flower suppliers it wouldn’t order flowers for 2026 even though residents paid expecting annual Memorial Day flowers. Asked the city to honor what people paid for and pointed to ordinances and receipts supporting that expectation.
Questioned the stated 2.54% tax increase and asked why “miscellaneous revenue” is up 107%. Also challenged why departments that underspent still get increases the next year, and later raised concerns about the Neshotah Beach concession stand project, saying she couldn’t find supporting materials and questioning whether the city followed proper steps and explored other funding options.
Urged the council to approve the library’s requested 2% budget increase (about $13,635), saying the library didn’t get an increase the prior year and that without it the library may have to cut programming, staff, or hours.