Paul Warr-King is the current President of the Gresham City Council.
We sincerely would like your vote to re-elect him to Position 5 of the City Council.

City Budgeting and Fiscal Responsibility

The overall 2008/2009 budget for the city totals $339 Million and funds a workforce of 5.8 employees per thousand residents.

The largest portion of these revenues are allocated to dedicated purposes such as infrastructure for wastewater, transportation, storm water, water quality etc with expenditures restricted to those special purposes with any co-mingling prohibited under State law. This leaves the main operating fund as the General Fund with a budgeted $47 Million.

Major revenues for this fund include property tax, intergovernmental agreements, franchise fees, business income tax, license/permits and state shared revenues. The General Fund primarily covers public safety, fire and police ($41 Million) with the residual used to cover parks maintenance, planning services, economic development, and other development services such as code enforcement.

With the passage of Measure 50 in 1996, cities had to freeze their existing tax base and were only permitted to increase the annual rate of their existing and future tax base properties by 3%. Gresham got stuck with a rate of $3.61 per $1000 on tax assessed value to fund its General Fund, which is the second lowest in the State after Wood Village.

After going through a period of adjustment, compounded by the loss of the revenue when the Fujitsu plant closed, the city switched to a priority based budget with citizens providing their input as to what were the most essential services that were important for them. Using these suggestions and assisted by the last economic surge the city was able to establish a "rainy day fund" to handle any future budget cycle contingencies.

My major concern is the projected growing "gap financing" shown in the Long Term financial plan for the General Fund. Revenues will be primarily dependent on property tax growth plus other potential revenue sources could be in jeopardy such as the Business Income Tax from the County and lower franchise fees as land lines are replaced with cell phones. This deficiency will be exacerbated by escalating costs from inflationary causes and the continued demands from collective bargaining for higher wages and benefits, especially health care.

I am participating in a task force study to make recommendations on this looming problem. Such items as staffing controls, cost containment, and new revenue sources will all be on the table for consideration. We always appreciate your input on these critical matters.

If you have a question or comment on the above, please email me directly at pwarrking@msn.com

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Please join us in re-electing Paul Warr-King
to Gresham City Council Position 5

If you would like to make a contribution, help us with the campaign or
just have a question please feel free to contact us at:

pwarrking@msn.com

"Bringing the experience, dedication and knowledge we need in Gresham"