May 2 City Council meeting covers budget issues, OIP pump track and TRT funding fixes

By ANDREW GRIFFIN/for The Herald  —  The City Council meeting held on May 2 had a sharp focus on fiscal issues, with points of discussion primarily focusing on issues concerning the city’s 2024-2025 budget, TRT and RTMP funding, and a $4,000 funding request to conduct a study for a potential pump track at the Oakridge Industrial Park.

Previous Oakridge finance director jumps in as interim director to move budget forward

Early in the meeting, the Council heard from Oakridge’s Interim Finance Director Eric Kytola about developments concerning the city’s upcoming 2024-2025 budget. Kytola reported that he had attempted to locate necessary information but found that some of it had not yet been started.

“I went through the network and tried to find as much as I could,” said Kytola. “For one, personnel hadn’t been started and there was nothing to do with the overhead allocations.”

Currently, Kytola is working to get the budget submitted to the Council by the end of the month. Though the legal deadline for Oakridge to pass the budget is June 30, the budget can still be worked on past the deadline in order to fill in details.

“There’s a lot of work to do, and there’s not very much time to get it done,” said Kytola. “I know that I can get a budget together but it’s going to be challenging because I have other clients besides Oakridge.”

Mayor has confidence that budget can be developed on time for passage

In response to Kytola’s update, Mayor Bryan Cutchen said that he thought the budget could be passed. “I think we can pull through in this extraordinary time and get a budget passed,” said Cutchen. “We do owe the public a chance to look at it, and I think if we have that budget towards the end of May, it will be published. Budget committee meets, makes their approvals, and then we go for adoption on time.”

Another fiscal matter discussed by the Council during the meeting was an item regarding multiple issues that had been brought to light regarding funding in both the Rural Tourism Marketing Program and the Transient Room Tax Block Grant Program. These programs provide funding to local businesses and organizations in Oakridge to help promote tourism in the city.

Councilor Kinyon digs into TRT and RTMP records

According to the item written by Councilor Dawn Kinyon, several issues were recently found in financial data records concerning these programs. There were three transactions made this year that potentially used TRT funding in ways that had not been approved by the council, and four fee waivers had been provided to recipients that were not eligible to qualify for RTMP funding.

Additionally, there were two events from previous fiscal years that had been entered into record twice, resulting in possible errors in the balance. In response to these issues being brought to light, the council passed two motions to allow City Administrator James Cleavenger to review and correct them.

 A pump track at the OIP may be in the future

The Council also passed a motion to use $4,000 in funding from the Oakridge Industrial Park fund in order to conduct a geotechnical study required to build a new pump track at the OIP. The funds would be used to help pay a portion of the total $9,000. The remaining $5,000 of matching funds for the study would come from Travel Lane County

The council is also currently working on a planning grant with Travel Lane County that could be used to fund a $25,000 conceptual design package that could be used to help develop the pump track. “Notably, this East Oakridge park will be an extraordinary benefit to the community and beyond,” wrote the Parks Committee in the council meeting’s agenda packet.