COTTAGE GROVE – The city council formally adopted the budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year on Monday night during the Cottage Grove City Council meeting, approving the division of the Community Promotions Fund and a roughly $200,000 library personnel services budget.
After months of budget preparation, committee meetings, town halls, community discussions, and lengthy city council meetings, the city council approved a $40 million budget for the fiscal year and allocated funds from the Community Promotions Budget.
On May 19, 2026, the budget committee approved the proposed budget with an estimated $103,000 of Transient Lodging Tax Revenue. The Budget Committee did not identify specific allocations within the Community Promotions Budget, allowing the city council to determine allocations to organizations such as Community Sharing, Family Relief Nursery, and Spirit of Bohemia Mining Days.
Per state law regarding Transient Lodging Tax, $48,000 from the CPB goes to the Cottage Grove Area Chamber of Commerce and the visitor center. Approximately $55,000 was allocated by the council to organizations that had a total request of $86,000. Singing Creek Educational Center and South Valley Farmers Market had requested funds for the fiscal year, but were denied.
As a group, the council agreed to divvy the funds as follows:
- Spirit of Bohemia Mining Days $10,000
- Community Sharing $3,000
- Family Relief Nursery $2,000
- South Lane Wheels $10,000
- Rural Tourism Projects $10,000
- Eugene Symphony $5,000
- Downtown Cottage Grove $10,000
The total for these divisions is $50,000, with an estimated $5,000 remaining. With the library in mind, Councilor Jim Settlemeyer asked whether these leftover funds could be transferred to the General Fund and used toward the library.
“Within state law, there are limits on what we can spend Transient Lodging Taxes on, and the way that’s often described is ‘heads and beds,’” said Mike Sauerwein, city manager. “It’s the idea that you’re supposed to spend the money to prime the pump and create additional transient lodging tax dollars, and you do that through supporting your Chamber of Commerce… supporting events that occur in the community that make it attractive for people to come and visit.”
Knowing that, councilor Randell Lammerman amended the original motion and allocated the additional $5,000 to Downtown Cottage Grove, giving the organization a total of $15,000.
About the library
How to properly fund the library was still a question the council did not know the answer to or had not agreed on. Councilor Dana Merryday first moved to transfer $50,000 from the Housing Development Cost Assistance Programs fund to the library’s general fund.
“To ensure that the city manager has adequate resources to structure and operate the library system in this time of change. Part of that funding could be used for a dedicated portion of employees’ time to develop, recruit, vet, and train a group of volunteers, and to assist in operating the library,” he said.
On May 14, the budget committee approved a $75,000 transfer from the housing development cost assistance fund to the general fund for community promotions for the Warren H. Daugherty Aquatic Center. The Housing Development Assistance Programs fund provides grants and loans to develop and preserve affordable housing.
Councilor Darrel Wilson asked if the funds Merryday was requesting were even still available, given previous rearrangements. Sauerwein confirmed that $83,000 remained in the housing fund, which originally started with $220,000.
Councilor Greg Ervin said he could not support Merryday’s motion because there were too many unknowns. He said the requested metrics are being met.
“If we get three months down the road, and we’re not, I’m certainly always open to rehashing the conversation,” Ervin said. He also said he supports putting measures on the November ballot to put decisions in front of voters.
Councilor Jim Settlemeyer brought up council goals and something he agreed to when he signed up for his position.
“There are so many of these goals that have something to do with if the city comes and supports, if citizens come and make clear that they have priorities, we would do what we could to serve them,” he said. “We can give a lot of citizens a very positive message if we move $50,000 and even just use the words ‘just in case’ to the library fund.”
Wilson brought up one person’s public comment to use $25,000 in the library fund to support a volunteer coordinator and suggested Merryday amend his motion. About an hour earlier, Cottage Grove resident Andrew Elliott suggested a one-time $25,000 investment for the library to hire a volunteer coordinator to invite community engagement.
Lammerman piggybacked on Ervin and said he was in favor of the budget as proposed, with the understanding that the council can make an amendment a couple of months down the road if needed.
“I hate to utilize a big majority of that housing assistance program if another program might need it, because once it’s gone, it’s gone, it’s not coming back,” Lammerman said.
The vote was called, and only Merryday and Settlemeyer voted in favor. The motion did not pass.
“If the worst-case scenario had been that this was just to show that we listened, then I don’t understand why we’re so quick to say no to this,” Settlemeyer said. “The idea that it isn’t worth us moving money around to show that we support so many people, and at the same time, we don’t know how much money it would take moving forward for the library.”
Sauerwein said the library’s personnel services budget is $212,868. This is about a $50,000 increase over the proposed $162,868 for this fund, but still less than half last fiscal year’s budget of $453,394.
He explained that the $200,000 budget is equivalent to funding for two full-time equivalent employees and one 0.7 FTE employee, for a total of 2.7 FTE. In fiscal year 2025-26, 4.42 FTE were budgeted; the prior year, 3.0.
Merryday said this was the first time he was hearing about the increase in the library budget. The original proposal called for one FTE.
Councilor Ervin moved to adopt the budget as presented, and the motion passed, with councilors Settlemeyer and Merryday the only votes in opposition. As soon as the budget was approved, a handful of folks in the crowd walked out, upset and mumbling under their breath.
When the recommendation to reduce the library budget was first introduced, Sauerwein suggested a new library model with a full-time head librarian and volunteer staffing. Members of the community and even some council members voiced concerns about the change being too drastic and emphasized the need for a transition period and time to train volunteers.
“City staff has heard loud and clear from the council and from the public that you really want to create a culture of volunteerism, which I wholeheartedly address and wholeheartedly support. I think that’s really a good direction for the city to go,” Sauerwein said. “We’re starting with the library, but we’d also like to expand it throughout the community.”
He said that community volunteer opportunities will be created beginning this fiscal year, with a community-wide cleanup in July.
