City and county approve new budgets
By Terry Murry on Thursday, June 3rd, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
PENDLETON – Both the Pendleton City Council and the Umatilla County Board of Commissioners have approved budgets for the new fiscal year that begins on July 1.
Pendleton Mayor John Turner said the city will have a budget that’s been under the microscope of the Pendleton Budget Committee.
“The budget committee met four times during the month of May, went through a $105 million budget, and approved it,” Turner said. “That budget is posted online for anybody to see.”
The Umatilla County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a budget of almost $124 million. Chairman George Murdock, who oversees the making of the budget, said that’s more than $20 million over last year’s budget. The county did see gains in growing property taxes, but the biggest reason for the increase was federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act.
“There’s a lot of stimulus money that, in order to spend it, it has to become part of the county’s budget,” Murdock said.
