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Umatilla Enters Budget Season With Questions

    It’s budget season for area governments, and the City of Umatilla last week began the process of piecing together its 2026-27 spending plan.  The council held an initial budget workshop just before its regular meeting on July 14, and was presented data by city staff indicating the city’s property values are up roughly 10% and new construction value has held steady at just over $25 million in addition to property value increasing roughly $33 million.
    City council members stopped short of adopting a millage rate for the coming year, and are expected to take up that topic at its next workshop, set for July 21.  Staff did provide a variety of potential tax rates that if approved would represent tax increases.
    Should the city adopt its rollback rate - the rate that would bring in as much money as the current year, it would require the city to fund nearly $750,000 additional to balance the budget.
    The city, like other government entities around the state, are developing budgets with an eye toward a referendum on the ballot this fall that could reduce or eliminate a traditional funding source.  Voters will be asked to change property tax collection laws in the state, that if approved, will send governments scrambling to find ways to replace that funding.  For Umatilla, that could eventually include up to 83% of the town’s homes not paying any property tax, a loss of over $600,000 in income.
    In Umatilla, that debate will be held in an environment where health insurance costs are expected to rise roughly 9.5%, payroll increases estimated at $150,000,
    The city is considering slashing the size of its Community Redevelopment Area, an area that directs tax dollars to specific uses within that district, with runs along the SR 19 through the downtown corridor.  A reduction of that zone would allow certain tax dollars to be spent in the city’s general fund.