The worsening state of the Lane County budget and the county’s tenuous relationship with its cities were among the topics discussed during West Lane County Commissioner Bill Fleenor’s 175th community dialogue held Thursday morning, July 22, at the Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue hall.

About a dozen people were in attendance as a relaxed Fleenor listened to constituent concerns and gave an update on efforts to balance the county’s budget and other issues the board of county commissioners are grappling with as he hits his final five months in office.

With federal rural timber payments to Lane County set to expire soon, Fleenor said the commissioners will be holding a Lane County Economic Stability meeting Aug. 17, at the Lane Community College’s main campus in Springfield.

“We are determined to look at reducing costs immediately,” said Fleenor.

The goal is to figure out how to cut $5 million from the county’s budget before June 30, 2011, the end of the current fiscal year.

“We have major challenges ahead,” he said, noting they still had to figure out how to continue to fund the 84 county jail beds the commissioners restored last year.



For the complete article see the 07-24-2010 issue.

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