PRIORITY
Stabilizing Milwaukie's Finances
Milwaukie is facing a fiscal cliff, but Will believes we can close the budget gap without gutting services or piling costs onto working families. We must be proactive and pursue revenue options that don't burden those of us who are already struggling with rising costs.
WHAT Will WILL DO AS Mayor:
Manage costs responsibly by eliminating inefficiencies and tightening the budget wherever possible. Without proactive action, Milwaukie faces a $6.7 million reserve shortfall by 2029, growing to $8.2 million by 2030 and wiping out our reserves entirely.
Force new growth to cover rising costs. New development is taxed at a higher assessed value, meaning it subsidizes existing residents without raising their bills. By directing development downtown and along commercial corridors, we could close approximately $1.5 million of the shortfall.
Annex island properties, parcels fully surrounded by the city that rely on city services without contributing fairly to the tax base, generating an estimated $500,000 and ensuring everyone in Milwaukie pays their fair share.
If new revenue is needed, it should reflect our values: making polluters pay, holding large corporations accountable, and asking the wealthy to pay more instead of passing costs onto working families.
Replace flat utility fees that hit working families hardest with a fairer approach to funding city services, because residents are already stretched thin and regressive fees only make it worse.
WILL'S TRACK RECORD:
Stopped data centers from passing their electricity costs onto Milwaukie families by helping pass the POWER Act, requiring large energy users to pay for the infrastructure they demand instead of shifting those costs onto working families and small businesses.
Kept utility rates nearly flat for Milwaukie residents, with average residential utility rate increases of just 1.51% this biennium, well below inflation.
Right-sized the city's Capital Improvement Plan, cutting the overall citywide CIP by $22 million to match what the city can actually deliver, freeing up funds for maintenance and programming without inflating utility rates.
Helped stabilize the General Fund by supporting key revenue measures that delayed the projected fiscal cliff and kept core city services funded through the current biennium.