La Grande budget committee pushes for 10 percent cuts in city plan

The La Grande Budget Committee pressed city staff to cut 10 percent from the 2026-27 general fund proposal, a move that put the city’s core services under immediate pressure and left members still short of a budget after nearly three hours of discussion.

The debate unfolded during the city’s scheduled budget hearings at Cook Memorial Library, where the committee first took up the general fund after the La Grande Urban Renewal Agency hearing wrapped up on May 11 and continued the discussion into May 12. The committee was still not close to approving a budget by the end of that second night, underscoring how much work remained before the city could lock in next year’s spending plan.

The hearing covered the parts of city government most residents encounter first: council, city manager and personnel, finance and municipal court, police, fire and EMS, parks, aquatics, recreation and urban forestry, the library, economic development, and planning and building maintenance. A 10 percent reduction request across that list puts staffing levels, service hours and program priorities in the spotlight, especially in a general fund that supports day-to-day operations.

The process was not spontaneous. La Grande’s budget calendar set March 9 as the deadline for requested FY 2026-27 budgets with narratives, then called for proposed budgets to be available to budget committee members on April 22 and for public notices on April 22 and April 29 before the May 11-13 hearings. The May 12 agenda also said members of the public could comment in person or virtually, but virtual commenters had to contact city staff by 5:00 p.m. on May 8.

The budget committee itself includes the La Grande City Council and seven members of the public, giving the city’s spending choices a mix of elected and citizen oversight. John H. O’Brien, appointed city manager in August 2025, is responsible for preparing the annual budget, and Heather Rajkovich is listed as the city’s finance director.

The request for a 10 percent cut comes against a backdrop of tight general-fund management. In 2025, the committee approved the FY 2025-26 general fund budget with an ad valorem property tax rate of 7.4392 per $1,000 of assessed value, and city minutes showed a beginning cash balance of $9,221,730 and a budgeted ending cash balance of $4,729,113 for the FY 2024-25 general fund. That history suggests the current fight is not just about trimming one line item, but about how much room La Grande has left to absorb rising costs without cutting into services residents rely on every day.