Proposed City Budget Numbers Released; Moving Forward, A City in Motion; School Budget Meeting; Gas Prices Still Going Up

Proposed City Budget Numbers Released

The city has released the numbers on the proposed biennial budget for the 2019-2021cycle. The budget shows a slight increase over the current budget for a total of 52,756,300 to be spent over the next two years.  This budget reflects a 2.4 million dollar difference in spenditures versus resources.  Proposed income over the next two years is expected to be around 50 million dollars.  the city currently has a beginning fund balance of 8,104,700 which will cover the increase.  25% of the new budget will be for capital outlay to construct new projects and finish up old projects carried over from the current budget, which includes 4.5 million dollars to extend work on Rhody Drive to the intersection of 35th street, monies for facility upgrades like the Rolling Dunes tennis courts, Miller Park upgrades, and improvements to the estuary trail.  The complete proposed budget can be found on the city’s website.  Ci.florence.or.us

Moving Forward, A City in Motion

While the city is working on updates and revisions to the housing code, Florence continues to move forward with beautification projects like updates to miller park, planned long term work on Gallagher’s park and the opening of the new riverfront park on Rhododendron.  City Manager, Erin Reynolds says the city is planning a grand opening soon.

“Here shortly, in the next week or so, we’ll be announcing the grand opening of the Siuslaw River Beach Access Park.”

The city is finishing up construction and landscaping.  The park has been in the plans for the city since 2017.  The plan is to have the park open by Rhody Days.

“it’s a beautiful park and we’re excited to unveil that to the community sometime in mid may.”

School Budget Meeting

The Siuslaw School district will be holding their budget meeting this evening at 6:30 pm at the district’s offices at 2221 Oak Street.

Gas Prices Still Going Up

Gas prices have hit their highest mark since October of 2014, this according to Marie Dodds with AAA Oregon.  The current average price of a gallon of regular gas in the state is up 3 cents from last week to $3.40 a gallon.  This is the 6th week in a row that gas supplies have fallen.  Prices, according to Dodds, will continue to climb through the Memorial Day weekend.  The average price of a gallon of regular gas in Florence is currently $3.23.