By the numbers: what to know about the city of Salem’s budget proposal
City leaders on Wednesday unveiled a budget proposal that would make deep cuts to city services, including slashing library hours and turning off water for most city parks starting this summer.
The budget won’t be finalized until it’s adopted by the Salem City Council, which typically happens in June.
Most of the cuts would be reversed if voters in May approve a property tax levy.
Interim City Manager Krishna Namburi will present the budget on April 16 to the city’s budget committee, which will spend the next few months discussing adjustments.
Here’s a quick overview of what she’s proposing.
Total city budget: $764 million
Total general fund budget: $196 million, up from $191 million last year
City jobs cut: 51 full-time, including 20 Salem Public Library employees and 15 parks employees. 36 full-time jobs and 3 part-time jobs are filled; the rest are vacant.
Library hours if budget is adopted: 20 hours per week at main branch, a reduction from 38 currently; West Salem branch closure
Fire and police department positions cut: Zero.
Why are services being cut if the budget is more than last year’s?
Staffing and equipment costs increase each year because of raises for employees, increased costs for the state’s pension system and inflation. Although the money the city collects, primarily from property taxes, increases year-over-year, costs are rising faster.
What else is being done to save money?
Besides cutting city employees, this budget proposal cuts in half supply budgets for most city departments, eliminates overnight travel and cuts equipment replacement outside of police vehicles.
It also eliminates overtime except for the overtime required to meet minimum public safety staffing levels. Those cost-cutting measures led the Salem Police Department this year to cancel its community police academy and to stop sending officers to neighborhood association meetings.
Those measures combined are expected to save $1.3 million through July, when the new budget takes effect, and another $1.1 million next year.
What happens if the city’s property tax levy passes?
If voters on May 20 approve a city levy measure, the cuts would be reversed, according to Namburi’s budget message. If that happens, she’ll prevent a revised budget to the city’s budget committee and ultimately to the Salem City Council.
The levy would generate about $14 million for the fiscal year starting in July.
What impact will the cuts have?
The cuts would hit services for families, young people and seniors especially hard, reducing library hours and programming, cutting summer youth recreation programs, turning off splash pads in most city parks and closing park bathrooms and water fountains.
The West Salem branch of the library would close entirely, while the main branch would be reduced to 20 hours per week — about half of its current operating level.
With those cuts would come programming reductions. Library employees would be focused on organizing and circulating books and other library materials. Library programs like storytime, outreach to senior living facilities and other events would be scaled back or cut entirely.
Neighborhood parks would be most impacted, because water systems can only be turned on or off. Splash pads would remain on at some larger parks like Riverfront Park, city officials said.
Seniors would have fewer classes available at Center 50+, and the center would be closed during weekends and evenings unless reserved for a special event.
What happens next?
Salem’s budget committee, which includes all city councilors, the mayor, and nine appointed community volunteers, will meet regularly from April 16 until about May 14 to discuss the budget.
Their meeting schedule is online here, along with information about how to submit written comments on the budget or sign up to testify.
They may request changes to the budget and will question city employees about its specifics. Once the budget committee votes to recommend the budget, it goes to the Salem City Council for approval.
Learn more
Salem Reporter will host a Town Hall on the city’s tax levy proposal on Tuesday, April 15, at the Elsinore Theatre beginning at 6 p.m. Learn more here and get a free ticket to attend here. (Tickets are needed so the theatre can plan for staffing.)
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers education, economic development and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade and is a past president of Oregon's Society of Professional Journalists chapter. Outside of work, you can often find her gardening or with her nose buried in a book.
