City Budget

The City's 2023-25 Adopted Budget information and the Budget in Brief document is online.  

The Budget Committee is made up of the seven City Council members and seven appointed citizens. The Budget Committee approves the Proposed Budget in the Spring, then the Approved Budget is recommended to the City Council and they review then adopt a budget that is basically the financial plan for the City.  The Adopted Budget incorporates the Capital Improvement Plan. The budget forms the basis for budget appropriations and includes any revisions or adjustments made by the Budget Committee.

Any citizen who is interested in reviewing the budget may contact the Finance Department at City Hall or view it online. Copies of the budget in brief are also available for review at the public Library.  The actual budget document contains extensive line details and is about an inch thick.

These are some significant steps in a budget process:

• May 4, 2023 – The City Manager presents the Proposed Budget to the Budget Committee. This provides a starting point for discussions. A Budget Committee meeting is for public review and consideration of the document.  The Budget Committee deliberates on the Proposed Budget then approves the Proposed Budget with any amendments after receiving public comment. The Approved Budget is then recommended to the City Council.

• June 6, 2023 – The Adopted Budget. The City Council reviews and considers the Approved Budget, deliberates and, where they determine appropriate, makes further adjustments which are embodied into the Adopted Budget.

• July 1 – Implementation of the budget adopted by the City Council. The services and projects within the Adopted Budget are implemented.

In addition, the Budget Committee met on March 23, 2023 for a pre-meeting (prior to distribution of the budget document at the April meeting) to go over ground rules and other information.

The City received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) for many years for its budget documents.  See related links for more budget documents.

The Lake Oswego Redevelopment Agency (LORA) budget documents are located on a separate webpage.