Members of the Winlock City Council convened on Monday, Nov. 10, for their first regular meeting of the month. The council held public hearings for the city’s 2026 draft budget and 2026 property tax levy followed by the approval of the levy.
Additionally, the council also approved a monetary donation to the Winlock-Vader Food Bank in the amount of a one-time $5,000 payment.
Also announced were plans to install a temporary fix to the Nevil Road damaged culvert for the winter, along with an application for grant funding to pay for the culvert repairs.
Budget and property tax levy
As for the budget, the majority of increases stemmed from insurance premiums rising, Winlock Mayor Brandon Svenson stated.
“This budget for 2026, very similar to last year’s. Not a bunch of changes,” Svenson said. “Really just some increases to medical premiums, just over 7%. We’re looking at liability coming in somewhere around 10%. We’ve yet to settle on an increase in the CBA (collective bargaining agreements for commissioned and non-commissioned officers in the Winlock Police Department). That’s something we’ll chat about later in the meeting.”
Svenson told the council another of the city’s loans was due to be paid off early next year — the fourth in two years. At the end of the meeting, Svenson and the councilors entered a closed-door session for negotiations to finalize the collective bargaining agreements.
Before approving the 2026 draft budget, the council must hold another public hearing, which will occur at 6 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 24, just prior to the start of their next regular council meeting.
As for the 2026 property tax levy, Svenson stated the levy was $17,000 more than the 2025 levy, $368,000, due to an increase in the number of buildings within city limits after annexation.
“The actual levy amount, per $1,000 (of assessed property value), should be slightly lower, so it’s not an actual raise in that sense,” he added.
While the levy’s lid itself may be increasing by $17,000, that increase is outweighed by the additional properties annexed, increasing the number of taxable residents but lowering the amount needed from each taxpayer to reach the levy’s total.
Winlock City Councilor Jeramy Allman motioned to approve the city’s 2026 property tax levy and the motion was seconded by Councilor Chuck Camps. The council unanimously approved the levy, with Councilor Lindsey Alvord not present to vote.
Food bank donation
For the Winlock-Vader Food Bank, Camps explained the food bank was working to try to supply $40 gift cards for families to use to purchase either a Thanksgiving or Christmas meal.
“Right now, they’re serving about 150 clients, and just last week they had five more families added. With all the new houses and stuff, they expect to get at least 10 more families before the year is out,” Camps said.
He added food bank staff were asking for assistance from the city if possible. Allman, along with Winlock City Councilors Jess Bowers and Jodie Curtis, were in support of the $5,000 donation.
Curtis also proposed setting up food bank donation drop-off points at various points in town.
“Not everybody’s hours coincide with food bank hours, and that’s a good way to get drop-off locations for food and cash,” Curtis said.
“Maybe we can get some of these — I know some personally — some of these logging companies, contractors, home builders, to donate a little bit too,” Bowers added.
The council unanimously approved the donation to the Winlock/Vader Food Bank.
Nevil Road culvert
For residents living and driving on Nevil Road dealing with the damaged culvert, Svenson announced plans were in the works with Winlock Public Works Department for a temporary fix.
“We’re going to get together and probably just do some of our own hot patch (repairs), do it just to get it through the winter,” Svenson said.
Public works staff wanted to get to the issue sooner, but Svenson stated much of their time during the latter part of this year was devoted to responding to an increasing number of water line leaks.
City staff are also pursuing a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Fish Passage Program grant to pay for the repairs, as they felt the project perfectly fit the National Fish Passage Program’s scope — which includes funding dam removals, culvert replacements and flood plain restoration.
With the application submitted, they anticipated knowing whether the grant had been awarded or not by the beginning of 2026, and are awaiting a visit from a National Fish Passage Program staffer to inspect the Nevil Road culvert.
The next Winlock City Council meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Nov. 24 at Winlock City Hall, located at 323 NE First St. in downtown Winlock.
For more information on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Fish Passage Program, visit its website at https://www.fws.gov/program/national-fish-passage.
