Timeline: How Salem’s city government got to its current budget crisis

This month, voters in Salem will decide whether to support or reject the city’s proposed new property tax as the city faces deep cuts to the Salem Public Library, in parks, at Center 50+ and across city services.

The levy is the latest attempt by the city to balance its budget, after years of cuts, studies and other efforts to raise revenue. Spending has outpaced revenue due to measures in the 1990s which limited how…