Please use the menu on the right-side of the page, or the buttons on the main page for this fiscal year, to navigate through the different phases of budget development and see associated documents. As we progress through monitoring this fiscal year, more pages and documents will become available.
What is budget monitoring?
After the City goes through its budget development process and arrives at an adopted budget, that budget is implemented on July 1, the start of a fiscal year. The City Budget Office (CBO) is responsible for financial monitoring and control of the City's budget during the fiscal year. This includes:
Budget monitoring to provide Council with information on revenues, expenditures, and performance at the bureau and fund level, and at the discretion of the CBO analyst or as requested by Council, at the program level;
Supplemental budgeting to amend the budget during the year to comply with State of Oregon budgetary statutes and address urgent and unforeseen needs or emergencies.
Technical adjustments to true up budgets between fiscal years and adjusting the budget based on changes to projected spending.
When are the major budget monitoring milestones?
There are three major budget monitoring milestones throughout the fiscal year. The is the year the City transitioned from the Budget Monitoring Process (BMP) to the Technical Adjustment Ordinance (TAO). In future years, the Fall and Spring will both be TAOs:
- The Fall Budget Monitoring Process (BMP) serves two major purposes: to give City Council and the public a summary of prior year activity and performance (budget monitoring) and to adjust the current fiscal year budget (supplemental budgeting).
- The Spring Technical Adjustment Ordinance (TAO) focuses on projecting spending for the remainder of the fiscal year (budget monitoring) and to make necessary adjustments to bureau budgets (supplemental budgeting). At this point in the fiscal year, bureaus and CBO should be able to project spending and revenues with a reasonable degree of accuracy. Decisions made during the Spring TAO can impact balancing the next fiscal year's budget.
- The Over-Expenditure Ordinance is narrowly focused on addressing over-expenditures and interfund loans to ensure that funds do not end the fiscal year with negative cash or fund balances. No other budget adjustments should be requested.
What kind of budget changes happen during these budget monitoring milestones?
Most changes are technical in nature. These are related to truing up budgets between fiscal years and adjusting the budget to match anticipated actual spending in order to avoid overspending any given appropriation category.
Per City Financial Policy and state budget law, there is the ability to allocate or request new resources to address urgent and unforeseen needs that come up during the fiscal year that cannot be funded through existing resources. These are usually one-time changes and do not repeat in the next budget cycle. In general, ongoing changes are considered through the annual budget process and approval of rate changes.
How are decisions made?
As with the budget development process, the first step is for service areas to work with the City Administrator to collaboratively develop recommendations for City Council. The City is in a new form of government starting January 1, 2025, so now these recommendations are brought to the Council finance subcommittee for discussion and feedback. The last step is for Council to vote on the Supplemental Budget. Per Local Budget Law, there is a Supplemental Budget hearing with an opportunity to provide public testimony before Council takes their vote.