Deschutes County releases proposed Fiscal Year 2021 budget

Deschutes County has released its proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2021. The total budget, including County Service Districts, is $507,820,468, which represents an increase of 0.8% from last year.

The County’s Budget Committee will review the proposed budget this week, beginning Tuesday, May 26, at 9 a.m. A full schedule is available online.

“Like other local governments, we anticipate that we may see a decrease in some revenue streams due to COVID-19,” said County Administrator Tom Anderson. “However, because of our strong tax base and reserves, we remain in a relatively strong financial position.”

Immediate impacts due to COVID-19 have been felt at the Fair & Expo Center and those event-related impacts will likely continue into next year. Moving into next year, the County anticipates reductions in state and federal revenue, which may impact Health Services and Community Justice.

Highlights from the County’s proposed budget include:

• The Deschutes County Road Department is proposing to spend $15.2 million on capital projects, including building two roundabouts along the Old Bend-Redmond Highway corridor and re-constructing NE 17th Street in NE Redmond.
   
• The Department of Solid Waste plans to spend $6.1 million to modernize the Negus Transfer Station in Redmond.
   
• Deschutes 9-1-1 plans to complete construction of a new radio site on Overturf Butte, which will provide enhanced radio coverage for first responders in Bend and complete design on several other infrastructure enhancements.
   
• The Health Services Department, in partnership with the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, other law enforcement agencies and external partners, will be opening the Crisis Stabilization Center in Bend to better address the needs of citizens in mental health crisis who have been referred to law enforcement. The Health Services Department received $1,200,000 in grant funding to use for the construction of a facility, as well as operational support from the Sheriff’s Office, Central Oregon Health Council, City of Bend and others. 
   
• The proposed FY 2021 budget supports 1,062 positions, an increase of 19.9 positions from FY 2020, mostly related to a Behavioral Health grant. In addition, departments will be asking for a total of 22.9 new positions (primarily in the Sheriff’s Office and Health Services) as special requests.

Budget hearings, which will be held at the Deschutes Services Center in Bend, will be streamed online at www.deschutes.org/meetings.