Washington County kicks off budget season; staff outline systems, assumptions and risks
October 02, 2026 | Washington County, Oregon
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John Steyer, the county's finance lead, opened the budget portion of the roundtable by outlining recent investments in fiscal systems and the approach for building the next budget. He highlighted a dedicated Workday finance business-systems team to keep the system running and implement improvements, the use of Questica for capital improvement planning (replacing spreadsheets), and a new contract management system (Cobblestone) being integrated with Workday.
Steyer said staff identified 14 finance policies that need aligning with Government Finance Officers Association best practices and intends to return with policy changes in November and spring for items such as risk management/internal controls and an economic-development financial policy. On economic assumptions he summarized national and Oregon forecasts (moderate growth, inflation near 3%), then walked through Washington County indicators: unemployment near 5%, covered employment down ~2.8% year-over-year, and strong wage growth—"Wages grew 9.2% year over year," he said—supporting household spending.
Key budget drivers discussed included property-tax assumptions (staff cited long-term growth around 4.25–4.5% with statutory measure limits on assessed value), COLA and personnel cost assumptions (Steyer projected a COLA of about 3.2% and warned that "a 1% change in COLA impact of general fund is about 1000000 dollars"), and PERS rate-setting impacts with a highlighted general-fund PERS payment of roughly $23,000,000. Steyer also flagged fiscal uncertainty tied to federal and state grants and referenced changes to 2 CFR 200 that affect grant management and could change roughly $200,000,000 in annual grant-funded programs across the county's budget.
The board discussed long-term capital needs (courthouse replacement, jail expansion, a medical examiner facility and an archives facility) and the longer-term operating costs that flow from new buildings. Steyer noted travel and turnover in finance staff—budget manager Steve Kang has resigned—and laid out a draft timeline for budget committee meetings in April and public hearings in May–June, with staff opening budget preparation the first week of December in anticipation of board guidance.
Commissioners asked for continued engagement and for staff to consider outreach formats for elected officials and the public; staff agreed to circulate calendar holds and return in November with property-tax and general-fund forecast updates.
Steyer said staff identified 14 finance policies that need aligning with Government Finance Officers Association best practices and intends to return with policy changes in November and spring for items such as risk management/internal controls and an economic-development financial policy. On economic assumptions he summarized national and Oregon forecasts (moderate growth, inflation near 3%), then walked through Washington County indicators: unemployment near 5%, covered employment down ~2.8% year-over-year, and strong wage growth—"Wages grew 9.2% year over year," he said—supporting household spending.
Key budget drivers discussed included property-tax assumptions (staff cited long-term growth around 4.25–4.5% with statutory measure limits on assessed value), COLA and personnel cost assumptions (Steyer projected a COLA of about 3.2% and warned that "a 1% change in COLA impact of general fund is about 1000000 dollars"), and PERS rate-setting impacts with a highlighted general-fund PERS payment of roughly $23,000,000. Steyer also flagged fiscal uncertainty tied to federal and state grants and referenced changes to 2 CFR 200 that affect grant management and could change roughly $200,000,000 in annual grant-funded programs across the county's budget.
The board discussed long-term capital needs (courthouse replacement, jail expansion, a medical examiner facility and an archives facility) and the longer-term operating costs that flow from new buildings. Steyer noted travel and turnover in finance staff—budget manager Steve Kang has resigned—and laid out a draft timeline for budget committee meetings in April and public hearings in May–June, with staff opening budget preparation the first week of December in anticipation of board guidance.
Commissioners asked for continued engagement and for staff to consider outreach formats for elected officials and the public; staff agreed to circulate calendar holds and return in November with property-tax and general-fund forecast updates.
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