PENDLETON — The Pendleton City Council unanimously voted to adopt a $105.1 million annual budget at a Tuesday, June 1, meeting, representing a slight increase from the year before.
PENDLETON â Thanks to the most recent round of federal stimulus, the city of Pendletonâs budget is likely to rise again this year despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
The city has proposed that the 2021-22 general fund, the cityâs only discretionary fund that pays for services like police, firefighters and parks, be set at $20.3 million, a 14% increase from the previous fiscal year. The cityâs total budget â proposed at $105.2 million â also represents a slight increase from the prior year.
City Manager Robb Corbett attributed much of the growth to the $3.4 million Pendleton expects to receive from the American Rescue Plan Act, the $1.9 trillion federal government stimulus bill meant to provide economic relief to people and entities affected by COVID-19.
PENDLETON â The Pendleton City Council is making some changes to its goals for the first time in four years, but tackling homelessness in the city wonât be one of them.
The council met for a workshop on Tuesday, April 27, to discuss the results of a community survey that gauged what issues residents wanted the city to prioritize.
In an interview after the meeting, Mayor John Turner said he was happy to see that 480 residents responded to the survey, a clear jump from the last time they solicited input on council goals in 2016 and only received about 250 responses.
Respondents were shown a list of goals and asked to rate them on a scale from âextremely valuableâ to ânot at all valuable.â
PENDLETON â Pendletonâs cut of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act hasnât dropped into its account yet, but the cityâs various tourism interests were already ready with a presentation.
Dubbed âPendleton Comes Alive,â the plan called for the city to use $250,000 from Pendletonâs federal stimulus payment to boost the local tourism industry. Led by Pendleton Economic Development Director Steve Chrisman, including representatives from the Pendleton Convention Center, the Pendleton Chamber of Commerce and the Pendleton Round-Up Association, the group thinks it can help the cityâs tourism recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by creating new initiatives like horse and buggy rides and sending people dressed in Western garb downtown to interact with tourists.
A boarding home request will be considered again when the Pendleton Planning Commission meets in the council chambers at 4 p.m. Thursday. Mr. and Mrs. Fred Jones operate the boarding home at 704 S. Main St., for former patients of Eastern Oregon Hospital and Training Center. They applied earlier for permission to increase the number of boarders at the halfway house from six to 11. A petition opposing the location of the halfway house was presented at last Tuesdayâs Pendleton City Council meeting. Fear was expressed that residents of the house might harm children.
25 Years Ago
April 13, 1996
Third grader Jessica Royal knows the President of the United States is a busy man. But that didnât stop the 9-year-old Lincoln Elementary School student from penning Bill Clinton a letter and sending it to his White House address. âI told him I wanted to become President,â said Royal. âI asked him to write back and give me some tips.â The next thing you know Royal