Urban Services Framework: staff warns service costs will outpace current revenue growth in Washington County

Senior Planner Kimmy Sloop presented the Urban Services Framework project as a technical, non‑recommendation study funded with ARPA dollars that inventories who provides urban services in Washington County’s urban unincorporated areas and models fiscal implications.

Sloop said about 611,000 people live in Washington County and roughly 215,000 live in the urban unincorporated area, meaning “about 1 in 3 Washington County residents lives in [the urban unincorporated area].” She explained services there are supplied by a mix of county programs, county service districts and special service districts (fire, parks, transit, water), and she described the project’s six focus areas including law enforcement, sanitary sewer/stormwater, streets and parks.

On costs, staff told the commission the analysis used assumptions developed with city and service‑provider conversations and estimated an annual increase of about 6% for law enforcement and about 4% for roads and infrastructure; those rises would compare to an assumed 3% annual revenue increase that staff tied to Measure 5 and Measure 50, creating a growing fiscal gap. Sloop emphasized the impacts vary by neighborhood because infrastructure age and development history differ and said the project does not recommend a single solution — rather, it provides a common technical foundation for future discussions among Washington County, Beaverton, Tigard and special districts.

Commissioners asked whether comparable counties exist (staff said Washington County’s situation is unusual because of Oregon’s growth management), whether residents can request annexation (staff said property owners can initiate annexation under state law if they meet requirements), and how the county will use the findings. Staff said final deliverables will include a lookbook and a final report expected in early fall and that additional coordination with special districts will be required before any policy changes.