A Message from the Mayor

Mayor’s Message – Financial Forecast

One of the most important tasks we have as the Mayor and City Council is ensuring your tax dollars are well spent. Of your property tax dollars, only 3% comes to the City for general operations. With additional voter approval, another 7% goes towards Public Safety and 3% goes towards Parks and Recreation. The other 87% of your tax bill goes to other service providers such as the North Clackamas School District, Clackamas Fire, Clackamas County, and more. As a City Council, all we control are the tax dollars the City receives.

Prior to developing the annual budget, the Finance Team at Happy Valley develops a five-year financial outlook. We forecast changes in revenues and expenditures and evaluate where we can improve service levels. The forecast estimates how local growth and the global economy might impact our operations. All of this information helps the Budget Committee and City Council develop a more detailed annual budget.

I’m pleased to report, with careful spending, the City has been able to have a positive financial outlook. The annual budget we approved at the end of June 2023 continues to allow for the funding of services that you have come to expect such as park beautification, road maintenance, community services, code enforcement, recreation programs, public safety services, growth management and permit processing, library services, and more.

In addition, the City has prioritized funding to keep the ball rolling on key capital investments, including:

• Purchasing land for parks
• Designing improvements to 172nd Avenue
• Completing the Superblock project
• Designing a new Community Center
• Purchasing land and designing a new Public Works facility

All these significant projects take time to implement and diligent financial planning. This requires a great deal of input, deliberation, and strategy as we work to ensure projects have the funding they need. We have to look long term when making decisions, which means we are always looking ahead as we determine what is best for the City and our community’s future.

Thank you to the Budget Committee, my fellow City Council members, and our dedicated staff for ensuring we spend local resources wisely and in a manner that advances our community priorities.