Deschutes County has released its proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2022. The total proposed budget, including County Service Districts, is $634,746,104, which represents an increase of 23 percent increase from last year's adopted budget. Changes from last year are largely being driven by the addition of $38 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding and $41 million in capital investments. The County's total proposed operating budget, which best reflects the County's actual spending as it excludes contingency, unappropriated balances and internal transactions, is $338.4 million. After compensating for changes in capital projects, debt service costs and the addition of ARPA funding, the increase is 3.8 percent from the prior year. "Deschutes County continues to grow and that growth is translating to a need, in certain areas, to expand staff and programming to meet increasing service demands," said County Administrator Tom Anderson. "We are looking