This budget was adopted by the Council at its meeting in Portland, Oregon on July 16, 2009.
The Council is aware of the current economic challenges facing the four-state region, and the need to maintain healthy financial conditions for the Bonneville Power Administration. Over the past eleven years, the Council has worked with Bonneville to adopt budget agreements resulting in significant savings to the region. Actions taken to accomplish these savings include reducing our workforce, eliminating vacant FTEs, reducing travel costs, slashing contract funding, cutting administrative costs, and curtailing lower-priority activities.
The Council has a budget agreement with the Bonneville Power Administration for the rate period Fiscal Year 2010 through Fiscal Year 2012. In that agreement, the Council made a commitment to exercise fiscal restraint in developing its budget and to hold budget increases to an average of 3 percent per year. The Council’s Fiscal Year 2010 revised budget of $9,683,000 is 2.3 percent higher than the current year 2009 budget of $9,467,000. The Council developed the Fiscal Year 2011 budget utilizing that same cost-containment strategy to hold the projected increase to 2.6 percent at $9,934,000. In order to achieve these goals, we are freezing the number of FTEs in the Council budget while continuing to undertake expanded work and responsibilities in the region.
Any questions regarding this budget should be directed to Sharon Ossmann, Director, Administrative Division, at the Council’s central office.
Steve Crow
Executive Director