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Budget Priorities

Mayor’s Budget Message for Fiscal Year 2008–09 (PDF)

Fiscal Year (FY) 2006–2007 is the tenth year under a new property tax authority that was established when our citizens approved Ballot Measure 34-52 in the November, 1996 General Election. The new tax authority provides funding for the following budget priorities:

Contents

Budget Priorities
Continuing Enhanced Law Enforcement And Citizen Safety Activities Maintaining Beaverton’s Stable Financial Position Expanding Understanding And Involvement In City Government Providing Excellent Customer Service To Beaverton Citizens
More Information
Economic Development and Intergovernmental Relations Efficient, Cost-effective City Government

Continuing Enhanced Law Enforcement And Citizen Safety Activities

1. New Police Positions

   The adopted budget reflects the eleventh year under a new property tax authority that was established by our citizens’ approval of Ballot Measure 34-52 at the November 5, 1996, General Election.  The property tax authority was established at $15,586,000, and it was phased-in in relation to our population growth.  The new authorization provided funding to hire 38 police officer positions and 8 support positions over the past ten years to maintain a ratio of 1.5 sworn officers per 1,000 of population. 

   The adopted FY 2007-08 budget includes one additional police officer in order to maintain the 1.5 ratio based upon the City’s projected FY 2007-08 population of 85,100.  The City’s tax authority will permit the hiring of future public safety positions as our population increases.

   We believe the enhancements permitted with the property tax authority have enabled the City to continue to improve the Community-based Policing Program.  This program has and will continue to play a major role in holding our own with the growth rate of crime.  Our crime rate, as measured by the Oregon Uniform Crime Report, shows an overall decrease of 5.7 percent in Part 1 and Part 2 crimes for Calendar Year (CY) 2006 as compared to CY 2005 as follows:

   • Part 1 serious person crimes, which include homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, increased by 8.1 percent. 
   • Part 1 serious property crimes, which include burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft and arson, decreased by 17.8 percent 
   • Part 2 crimes, which include stolen property, vandalism, curfew violations, increased by 3.2 percent overall.

   In CY 2005, our overall crime rate experienced a 5% increase with a 3% decrease in Part 1 crimes and a 12% increase in Part 2 crimes as compared to CY 2004.  Our citizens have indicated that public safety has a key impact on their quality of life

2. Police Department Programs

   The Beaverton Police Department is a progressive and proactive police agency, committed to a community-based policing and problem solving (COPPS) philosophy.  In partnership with citizens, the agency strives to identify causes of crime, disorder, and fear of crime for purposes of making long-term improvements in the safety and quality of life within the community.  Dedicated to providing the highest quality service, the department’s structure, strategies, and programs are continually reevaluated to manage change as it relates to community growth, crime trends, and the evolving role of police in today’s society.  This has included working in partnership with other local, state, and federal government agencies to identify strategies in which to maximize the service offered the public and protect citizens from threats arising locally and internationally, including homeland security matters.  Strategies involve participating in interagency teams for purposes of sharing resources and intelligence, as well as maximizing police resources county-wide.

   Reflective of its commitment to excellence, the department was honored in 2006 as a recipient of the prestigious International Association Chiefs of Police (IACP) Motorola - Webber Seavey Award for its Identity Theft and Fraud Prevention program.  This is IACP’s top international award which is given to three recipients each year that “exemplifies law enforcement’s most innovative, successful contributions to the quality of life in our communities.”  The department was selected among 123 award submissions for its work in addressing identity theft and fraud crimes.  The other two winners included the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the District Police Nalgonda from Andhra Pradesh, India.

   The Police Department has been selected by the International Association Chiefs of Police (IACP) to serve as one of three law enforcement agencies in the United States in a pilot project, “Enhancing Police Response to Victims:  Designing a 21st Century Strategy for State and Local Agencies.” The police department was selected by the IACP through an application process, and was awarded the project based on its commitment to community policing, application process, agency size, and location. The department is committed to helping victims of crime, and looks forward to enhancing its work to assure the best possible victims’ services are made available and received, inside and outside of the agency.

   Beaverton’s Uniform Crime Rate (UCR) total for Part 1 and Part 2 crimes decreased 5.7 percent for 2006.  Part 1 serious person crimes, which include homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, increased 8.1 percent, or by 16 cases.  Although the category of rape dropped by 35.3 percent (12 cases) and robbery by 25.5 percent (13 cases), most of the change was in aggravated assault, which experienced an increase of 36.6 percent (41 cases).  The aggravated assault increase is due in part to changes to record coding of domestic violence cases involving strangulation and in gang activity in 2006.  Part 1 serious property crimes, such as burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft and arson decreased 17.8 percent, or a reduction of 524 cases.    Part 2 crimes, such as stolen property, curfew violations, drinking in public, and fraud showed an increase of 3.2 percent (118 cases).  Much of this increase can be attributed to continued proactive self-initiated activity by officers, such as graffiti documentation and removal (vandalism), arrests for public drinking (transient and street corner solicitor issues), and targeted efforts for motorists under the influence. 

3. Traffic Safety and Enhancement

   FY 1999-00 represented the final year of a three-year funding plan from property taxes for the traffic enhancement program.  In total $2,325,000 was dedicated to construction projects.  The program’s first major focus was to improve the arterial and collection system by refining the signal-timing program, enhancing the remote communications capabilities, and upgrading the signal control systems.  The second major focus is to mitigate the impact of through-traffic on local streets with traffic calming measures.  Neighborhood livability and safety are enhanced by the installation of speed reducers designed to blend in with and enhance the visual environment.  The budget includes $493,135 for construction projects in the Capital Improvements Plan (CIP) that are approved through a public involvement process with the City’s Traffic Commission. 

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Maintaining Beaverton’s Stable Financial Position

1. Moody’s Investors Service Bond Rating

   General Obligation Bonds:  Moody’s has assigned an underlying rating of ‘Aa2’ and a fully insured rating of ‘Aaa’ to the City of Beaverton General Obligation Bonds, reflecting the City’s favorable debt profile, above average wealth indices, and moderately growing tax base. The rating also reflects the expectation that the City will continue to maintain a healthy General Fund balance given prudent financial management and capacity within its operating tax rate. Resident wealth levels in Beaverton are amongst the highest in the state for Oregon cities. Moody’s expects Beaverton’s debt profile to remain favorable given current low debt levels and rapid principal payout.

   Water Revenue Bonds:  Moody’s upgraded the City’s June 1, 2006 Water Revenue Bond, Series 2006 by one step from ‘A2’ to ‘A1’. The improved rating reflects the City’s credit strengths in the following areas:

   • The service area benefits from well established economic base west of Portland
   • Narrow debt service coverage which is offset by healthy financial position and stable customer growth
   • Below average debt ratio and rapid payout of the systems debt. With the purchase of bond insurance, the insured rating is ‘Aaa’, which is the highest rating possible.

2. Standard & Poor’s Bond Rating

   General Obligation Bonds:  Standard & Poor’s has assigned an underlying rating of ‘AA’ and a fully insured rating of ‘AAA’ to the City of Beaverton General Obligation Bonds reflecting an expanding and diverse tax base, strong financial performance, and moderate and manageable debt levels. Standard & Poor’s has assigned a stable outlook for Beaverton reflecting that our financial performance will remain strong; the local and regional economy will continue a slow, steady recovery from the recent recession, lowering unemployment levels and stabilizing income levels for City residents.

   Water Revenue Bonds:  Standard and Poor’s upgraded the City’s June 1, 2006 Water Revenue Bond, Series 2006 by two steps from ‘A+’ to ‘AA’. The improved rating reflects the City’s credit strengths in the following areas:

   • A healthy service area economy and an ‘AA’ General Obligation Bond rating
   • Good fixed charge coverage
   • Excellent liquidity
   • A manageable capital project program
   • Beaverton’s outlook is stable and reflects strong financial performance with the expectation that the City will maintain its financial position while it completes a modest capital projects plan. With the purchase of bond insurance, the insured rating is the ‘AAA’, which is the highest rating possible.

3. Local Area Beaverton Economy

   Beaverton’s local area economy did not see the identical downturn that the State of Oregon experienced.  Our city business license revenues decreased 6% between FY 2001-02 and FY 2002-03.  The license fee is based upon a fixed base amount ($50) plus $8.50 per full time equivalent employee in excess of the first four employees.  By FY 2004-05, business license revenues totaled $470,000 and exceeded FY 2001-02 levels reflecting a 100% recovery from the downturn.  FY 2006-07’s business license revenues are expected to be $500,000.  The City’s residential building permit activity remained strong in FY 2006-07 and is expected to continue in FY 2007-08 with two large land developments: Progress Quarry, a 115-acre parcel, and the Teufel Nursery property, a 120-acre parcel.

4. City Revenues

   The revenue projections for the budget year were compiled through a process of careful evaluation that ensures that every possible source for revenue is being considered.  The City’s various major revenue streams are stable for FY 2007-08.  The property tax levy rate for general operations is projected to be $3.95 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation.  The projected rate is expected to generate $25,706,050 in property taxes based upon an estimated assessed valuation of $6,842,699,000.  The $3.95 tax rate is 84% of the City’s $4.62 Permanent Rate Tax Authority.  The increment between the levy of $3.95 and the $4.62 permanent rate is $0.67, and when applied to the estimated assessed valuation, it would produce an additional $4.5 million dollars in property tax revenues.  This additional unused tax authority is expected to provide the City with sufficient resources to meet our future resource needs.

   The City budget process focuses much attention on the tax-supported funds.  However, the process also provides full review and approval for a variety of other funds.  The Enterprise Funds are based upon user fees, charges for services, and other restricted revenues.  We continue to carefully review the Enterprise Funds (water, sewer, and storm drain) relating to their overhead costs, fees and rates, and the need to restructure rates if needed.  The FY 2007-08 budget includes a proposed 2.6% water consumption rate increase for the Water Fund.  The 2.6% water consumption increase is equivalent to a 5-cent increase from the current $1.92 per 100 cubic feet of water (which is equivalent to 748 gallons) to the rate of $1.97.  The cost increase to the average residence that consumes 8 units of water per month would be $4.80 per year for water consumption.  The water consumption rate increase is recommended to be effective January 1, 2008 and would generate $181,000 additional revenue annually. 

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Expanding Understanding And Involvement In City Government

1. Neighborhood Association Committee (NAC) involvement, Beaverton Committee For Citizen Involvement (BCCI) representation, Boards and Commission representation, accessible elected and volunteer leadership and active recruitment from all sectors, insures access for citizens to be involved in all phases of the City’s planning and land use process, and citizen involvement projects.
2. Leadership Beaverton, sponsored by the City, Beaverton Chamber of Commerce and private sector sponsors, is a series of ten full-day sessions presented monthly, and designed to develop a diverse network of visionary civic and business leaders.
3. A strong economic, cultural and social base is essential to maintain and improve our identity as a City. We will continue to make City facilities for Citywide cultural and community activities as a way to reinforce our identity.
4. Beaverton is one of fourteen cities authorized by the state legislature to use a system that photographs drivers that fail to obey traffic signal devices (running red lights) using a camera detection system (any city over 30,000 in population can install red light signal detection). At designated intersections, a camera unit is connected to the traffic signal and an underground sensor. When a vehicle enters the intersection after the light has turned red, a photo is taken and a citation issued to the registered owner with the presumption that the registered owner of the vehicle is the driver. Beaverton has four intersections with active camera systems that monitor the traffic on the each of the through lanes and one of the four intersections is also monitored for red light violations in the left-hand turn lanes.
5. The city has initiated a multifaceted sustainable development program to balance the use of natural resources, promote greater energy efficiency, and stimulate social and economic gains that will improve our quality of life.  With these goals in mind, the city has launched programs and taken actions that have already produced benefits and will continue to influence future growth.

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Providing Excellent Customer Service To Beaverton Citizens

1. Library Operations

   The Beaverton City Library continues to experience significant demands for service.  Our Library remains the single busiest library facility in the WCCLS system circulating 1,726,494 items in CY 2006 or 23.7% of the Cooperative’s total circulation of 7,276,224 items.  The next busiest single facility, Cedar Mill Community Library, circulated 18.2% of the Cooperative’s total circulation.  The City of Hillsboro libraries, consisting of two facilities, circulated 25.0% of the Cooperative’s total circulation. The Beaverton City Library continues to issue the most library cards of all WCCLS libraries.  In FY 2005-06, 10,476 new cards were issued at Beaverton, which accounted for 28.8% of all cards issued in the county.

   The approval of the four year serial levy will reflect that the Library Fund will again be operating in the positive.  This levy was the third attempt at passing an operating levy with the prior two operating levy attempts failing in 2002 and 2004.  The failure of the two operating levies caused revenue shortfalls for the Library’s operations.  The impacts of the revenue decrease was lessened as the City’s General Fund absorbed a portion of the shortfall through reduced charges for information systems and overhead costs totaling $190,000 annually beginning in FY 2002-03.  Since the first levy failure in November 2002, the Library’s hours of operations decreased from 70 to 49 per week and staff was reduced by 8.5 FTE positions along with other operating cost reductions.  However, even with the cost reductions, the Library’s operations continued to make up the difference between the lost revenues and the reduced expenditure levels by using contingency reserves as follows:

   • FY 2003-04 $504,800
   • FY 2004-05 $200,879
   • FY 2005-06 $  70,369
   • FY 2006-07 $216,743 

   The Library Fund’s adopted FY 2007-08 Budget will operate in the positive with total operating revenues exceeding expenditures by $81,996, for a projected ending contingency balance of $646,634.  Projections over the next four-year period (FY 2007-08 to FY 2010-2011) estimate that the ending contingency balance will grow to $1.9 million at the current level of expenditures.

   Despite the reductions in funding over the past four years, the Beaverton City Library continued to rank high in the 2006 Hennen’s American Public Library Ratings.  Hennen’s uses a rating system scale of 0 to 1,000, and 15 input and output measures such as budget, staff, circulation, and library visits.  Based on statistics for FY 2004-05, Beaverton City Library was rated with 815 points and ranked #1 among libraries in Oregon serving populations from 100,000 to 249,999.  Among all WCCLS libraries, Beaverton ranked number one and among all libraries throughout Oregon, Beaverton ranked fifth.

2. Expanded Public Works Department:

   This past March, the Site Development Engineering and Construction Inspection divisions were transitioned from the Community Development Department to the Public Works – Engineering Division.  The transition will bring improved coordination of activities as new development infrastructure plans are reviewed and approved, constructed, inspected and accepted by the City. 

3. Public Works In—House Construction Program

   The Public Works Operations Division continued to emphasize the effective use of staff resources in FY 2006-07 by identifying and completing a series of projects that may have otherwise been delayed pending future funding.  The staff’s work during the past several years has improved the internal capacity to deliver more complex project work in an efficient and timely manner.

  During FY 2006-07 the staff conducted the following activities:
• Placed more than 5,000 tons of asphalt for the street overlay program.
• Completed the construction of the final decorative concrete intersection on SW Watson Avenue at SW Broadway in support of the Hall-Watson Beautification Program. The installation of this intersection completes all of the Hall-Watson Project work south of Canyon Road.  The intersection installation at SW Watson Avenue and SW Broadway included a variety of additional elements such as new pedestrian signals and street lights, an additional left turn lane on SW Broadway westbound to SW Watson Avenue southbound, and the reconstruction of a public plaza on SW Broadway. All of the improvements on SW Watson Avenue were completed by Public Works staff.
• Completed the installation of street and sidewalk improvements on SW 155th between SW Hart Road and SW Rigert Road that included Beaverton’s first installation of permeable concrete sidewalks and vegetated swales in the city.  This “green street” concept is an example of alternative, low impact development techniques that can be utilized for public and private development activities to deal with difficult site conditions and more effectively manage storm water where on-site detention is limited.
• Completed multiple new stream enhancement projects in several areas of the city in conjunction with SOLV, the Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District, and other volunteer groups. These efforts resulted in the planting of an additional 18,000 trees, shrubs and native plants along stream corridors.  Several of these projects were funded in part by Nature in the Neighborhoods grants from Metro. All of these activities are in support of the Clean Water Services Healthy Streams Plan.
• Completed installation of replacement water, sanitary sewer and storm water trunk lines as part of a major rehabilitation program in the Sandburg Subdivision on SW 5th Street.

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  For FY 2007-08, these crews will perform the following activities:

  • Complete construction of a series of storm water, sanitary sewer and water rehabilitation projects at multiple locations in support of the Capital Improvement Plan.  These projects are intended to replace aging infrastructure, to improve system capacities and to alleviate seasonal storm water runoff problems in the West Slope area where a lack of new detention facilities has created localized problems.
  • Complete installation of a new traffic signal at SW Sorrento Road and SW Brockman Street.
  • Complete the installation of new street lighting along NW 173rd Avenue from NW Walker Road to NW Cornell Road.
  • Complete pavement surface overlays on SW Allen Boulevard from SW Murray Road to SW Main Avenue, on SW Weir Road from SW Murray Road to SW 170th and on SW Hart Road from SW Murray Road to SW Wilson Avenue in addition to previously scheduled overlays on multiple residential and collector streets.
  • Begin a program in support of the Clean Water Services effort to reduce inflow and infiltration into the sanitary sewer system through the programmed replacement of aging sanitary sewer lateral lines.
  • Install a new control system and expanded filtration capacity on the City Park Fountain to allow remote access control of fountain operation and better filtration of contaminants on peak use days.


• Water System Aquifer Storage and Recovery

  The City is using ASR as an alternative means to increase water supply capacity by up to 6 million gallons each day during summer 2007.  This represents an increase of 3 mgd using the new ASR No. 4 facility completed in spring 2007.  During 2006, the City pumped an extensive quantity of groundwater from ASR Well Nos. 1 and 2, located inside City limits (ASR Well No. 3, though drilled, is not in production, yet, due to its lower production capability as compared to the other ASR wells).  Using ASR, the City stored approximately 299 million gallons of drinking water over the winter and spring of 2006-07.  During May through September 2006, 281 million gallons of stored water was pumped out to help meet summer water demand.  Due to the relatively short and mild summer in 2006, no native groundwater was needed to supplement peak summer supply.  As a part of the groundwater withdrawal from the ASR wells, rigorous water quality testing and data collection is performed on a regular schedule to be sure that the water quality meets high state and federal standards and to evaluate how the aquifer responds to the injection storage and recovery of drinking water.  Since ASR has become a part of the water supply system, Beaverton’s drinking water during the summer represents a mixture of source water from ASR and the upper Tualatin River.  Total groundwater (stored ASR plus native groundwater) extracted from the City’s two ASR wells made up 9 percent of the City’s total annual drinking water distributed to customers in 2006.  ASR technology enables the City to meet short-term water demand and may delay the need to purchase water, expand water treatment, and build aboveground storage reservoirs and new conveyance facilities.  These factors represent potential large cost savings to the City in the long term.  .

• Building Inspection and Development Activity

  The national decline in the housing market through 2006 is thought to have hit bottom, leaving the construction industry with a hint there could be a slow recovery through 2008.  Even with the national decline, the Oregon housing market has fared somewhat better.  Beaverton’s new single-family permit activity for FY 2006-07 is expected to dip below the projection of 250 units to a total of only 210.  Cautious forecasts for an improving housing market support an estimate of 200 new single-family permits to be issued in FY 2007-08.  New subdivision construction slowed significantly in FY 2006-07 as the development industry is moving at a cautious pace, but keeping development in a position to quickly react to an upturn in the market.

   

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Economic Development and Intergovernmental Relations

The Economic Development Program continues to be strong and active.  Our City is working hard to attract new businesses and to support our existing business base.  The FY 2007-08 budget includes $739,000 for the Economic Development program of which the major initiatives are:

• $100,000 for assistance with the health clinic project.    The development concept for this project includes a combination of mixed uses that would include commercial spaces (health clinic and other health related retail), live-work units (commercial at the street level with 2-story living above), and 50 plus units of elder housing.  The project would be intended to be a development catalyst for the downtown area and will be carefully integrated with the surrounding neighborhood.  It would complement and enhance the existing neighborhood commercial services and attract permanent residents and stable businesses to the area.

• $100,000 for continued assistance of the Open Technology Business Center (OTBC) incubator facility.  This is the fourth year that the City has committed funding.  In the prior three years, the City provided $1.2 million in funding for OTBC at an average of $400,000 per year.  This facility opened its doors in January, 2005 to promote the City of Beaverton as the premier place in Oregon to start and grow businesses in the rapidly emerging field of open technologies.  As a center of entrepreneurial activity, the Open Technology Business Center supports the formation, growth and funding of companies.  It combines the traditional concept of a business incubator with a strong industry focus and deep domain expertise.  Beaverton and Oregon have the potential to command a leading global position in open technology expertise, and the Open Technology Business Center is poised to bring the talent, ideas and capital together to make Beaverton the premier location for starting open technology companies.

• $67,000 for the Economic Gardening Program.  This program recognizes the accepted view that 80% of the new jobs created come from existing, local companies. “Economic Gardening” focuses on helping the community’s existing businesses to expand and grow through mining information from high-powered data bases, GIS, and other information tools to increase the competitiveness and success of local businesses.

Other economic development activities for FY 2007-08 include: marketing efforts related to the recent Regional Strategy report on downtown redevelopment, sponsoring business events and roundtables, assisting the developer of The Round at Beaverton Central, and beginning the re-development effort on the recently acquired 4.2 acre Westgate Theater property that is adjacent to The Round project.  The adopted budget also includes $225,000 to begin a community visioning project for the City.

The City regularly works in partnership with the Beaverton Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Mayor is an ex-officio member of the Chamber’s Board of Directors.  The Mayor also sits on the Board of the Westside Economic Alliance and chairs the regional Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy Committee; both working for an improved economy in the region.  In concert with this effort is an increased awareness that intergovernmental relationships are very important.  The opportunity to affect cost savings through mutual agreements is critical.  As a standard, City staff work with other jurisdictions to evaluate every opportunity to ensure service efforts are not duplicated and to maximize economies of scale.

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Efficient, Cost-effective City Government…

Economic development and intergovernmental relationships have been critical to effective cost savings. Mutual agreements magnify the City’s dollars to the benefit of our citizens, and City staff are directed to evaluate every opportunity to provide optimal efficiency. As a standard, City staff work with other jurisdictions to ensure service efforts are not duplicated and economies of scale are maximized.

The Municipal Court’s computer system models the work processes and work-flows that were developed through a re-engineering process to implement a “paperless” court operation. Under the paperless system, defendant information is recorded and citations and court records are scanned, such that court cases are managed electronically in the courtroom. The Judge operates the court entirely through the computer system and records the plea, finding and determination without paper records. This past fiscal year, staff made further refinements to the system including the payment of citation fines over the Internet, and development of a video arraignment program in the courtroom such that defendants located at the Washington County Jail can be arraigned in court while remaining at the county jail facilities.

FY 2007-08 is the City’s fourteenth year as a Housing Urban Development Block Grant entitlement city and the fifth year using the new 2000 US Census population figures for distributing Block Grant funding.  Under the new census population, our Block Grant awards significantly increased from $509,000 in FY 2002-03 to $723,000 in FY 2003-04.  From FY 2003-04 through FY 2006-07 the annual awards have been decreasing by and average of 5.23 % per year as follows:

• $711,000 in FY 2004-05
• $673,640 in FY 2005-06
• $609,439 in FY 2006-07

FY 2007-08’s allocation is projected to be $612,738 (a .5% increase over FY 2007-06’s allocation) and together with the $404,785 remaining from prior years’ awards will total $1,017,523 in available grant resources for FY 2007-08.  Our long-term goal is to enhance Beaverton’s central area by supporting affordable housing and improving the core neighborhoods’ public infrastructure and community facilities.  The budget includes $140,000 for the Housing Rehabilitation Program, $222,400 for matching grants to downtown business for storefront improvements, $176,700 for the adapt-a-home program, $156,000 to assist with a senior housing project, and $127,700 to rehabilitate properties recently acquired by the Block Grant Fund.  We have also allocated fifteen percent of the FY 2007-08 grant allocation to fund social service programs in the amount of $91,910.

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Mayor’s Budget Message (08-09)

Budget Priorities

Budget Committee

FY 09 Budget Document

FY 08 Budget Document

Financial Reports