Lane County budget trims jobs, preserves core services, rural patrols</final

Lane County’s proposed fiscal year 2026-27 budget protects the county services residents notice most: no reductions are planned in the Sheriff’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office or Assessment & Taxation, even as the county trims 15 full-time equivalent positions across other departments and funds.

The biggest immediate impact is on rural patrols. County leaders plan to use $4.8 million in unallocated transient lodging tax reserves to keep patrol coverage at its current level for the next two years, a step officials say prevents a drop in service beginning in July for rural residents, visitors and tourists. Lane County says its sheriff deputies cover more than 4,600 square miles, including timberlands, waterways and coastal dune areas, while also handling corrections, jail, dispatch, investigations, court security, prisoner transport, search and rescue, marine patrol and dune patrol.

County Administrator Steve Mokrohisky’s budget message frames the proposal as the result of a longer financial correction. Lane County says state and federal revenue makes up about 60% of its income, even as the county continues to operate with one of the lowest permanent property-tax rates in Oregon. The county says it spent the past 12 years unwinding deficit spending that had depended on one-time reserves, and now reports its highest credit rating in history, the second-highest rating available, along with a low-risk auditee designation from auditors.

The strain shows up in the general fund, which the county says sends nearly 76% of its dollars to public safety. That helps explain why the sheriff’s office has been protected while other parts of county government absorb the cuts. The sheriff’s office presentation said it had already lost five sworn FTE since 2024 and would lose two more in fiscal year 2026, underscoring how tightly the county is trying to hold the line on policing across Eugene, Florence, Oakridge, Veneta, Creswell, Coburg and Junction City.

The lodging-tax decision has stirred political pushback from tourism leaders. Lane County says House Bill 4148 now allows local governments to use up to half of transient lodging tax enacted since 2003 for non-tourism uses. Tourism leaders have warned that the county is proposing to reallocate $6.5 million from tourism tax reserves to public safety, while Travel Lane County says visitor spending generates about $1 billion a year. The budget committee took public comment on May 5 and will meet again on May 20 before the fiscal year begins July 1.