With personnel costs rising and some revenue streams capped, Ashland is among the municipalities using fees to pay for specific programs
By Sabrina Cotta
Like many Oregon cities, Ashland is facing a challenge: The cost of running the city — everything from police and fire to parks and trails — is rising faster than the money coming in. This is due to a mix of caps on revenue, rising healthcare and pension costs, and increasing service demands.
To help maintain services in the face of rising costs, the city of Ashland relies on fees to pay for specific programs. These fees show up on your monthly utility bill. The City Council has voted to increase specific fees this year, recognizing that the programs the fees support have gotten more expensive over the years.
What’s changing?
Starting shortly after July 1, you will see two fee increases on your utility bill:
- Public safety fee: Increase from $1.50 to $5 per month on your electric bill. This fee funds our Emergency Medical Service programs (our ambulance 911-response).
- Wildfire risk reduction fee: Increased from $3 to $7 per month on your water bill. This fee supports year-round wildfire mitigation efforts, including an educator role and our emergency manager position.
Both fees include an annual inflation adjustment, meaning the fees will increase every year based on how much inflation has occurred. This helps ensure we don’t fall behind again.
What about Parks?
To help fund some of our Parks & Recreation programs, including the North Mountain Park Nature Center, Daniel Meyer Memorial Pool, Ashland Rotary Centennial Ice Rink and the Ashland Senior Center, staff proposed adding a $5 monthly parks fee to your utility bill. The City Council did not approve that fee, but the city Parks Commission last week proposed a $6.50 monthly fee. If it cannot get City Council approval for a fee, some of those Parks services will likely face reduced hours or may no longer be available.
Why it matters
It costs money to provide city services and, like you’re facing with grocery bills, insurance costs and other daily needs going up in cost, the City has seen a significant increase in how much it costs to provide services. Increasing the fees that pay for these services helps us provide these services now and into the future.
Want to learn more? Check out our “Better Together” series and “Show Me the Money” presentations at ashlandoregon.gov/OLLI to get a deeper dive into how our city works, where your money goes and how we’re working to keep Ashland a great place to live.
Want to be a part of our budgeting process? Submit comments or ask questions at the Citizens’ Budget Committee Meetings on Wednesday, May 7, and May 14. Information at ashlandoregon.gov/CitizensBudgetCommittee. Information on City Council meetings at ashlandoregon.gov/Council.
Sabrina Cotta is the city manager of Ashland. She can be contacted at [email protected].
Email letters to the editor and Viewpoint submissions to [email protected].
