Objectives, Scope, & Methodology

The objective of this report was to evaluate the financial condition of Multnomah County using the Financial Trend Monitoring System developed by the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and the indicators suggested by the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB). In developing and analyzing the indicators of financial condition, we interviewed personnel in Finance and Budget and various other County offices and departments.

We conducted this performance audit in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.

The prior reports covered the years FY93 through FY14 and are available on the County Auditor's web page. Earlier reports are available upon request.

Throughout this report, we included state payments to developmental disability (DD) service providers. In FY08, the state began paying community service providers directly, where in prior years these funds passed through the County. Though the County no longer receives these funds directly, the shift was an accounting change only and did not impact services. In FY16, this amounted to over $92 million paid directly to DD service providers.

We expressed all indicators in constant dollars with the option to turn off the inflation adjustment. These adjustments for inflation convert dollar amounts to the equivalent of the purchasing power of money in fiscal year ending June 30, 2016 (or calendar year ending December 31, 2016 where applicable).  The adjustments are based on the Portland-Salem Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers.

For More Information

The County's financial policy is adopted and published annually in its adopted budget. The County's financial statements and budget can be accessed at multco.us.

Additional economic information can be obtained through the State of Oregon for the State Employment Department or the Office of Economic Analysis.

For information about the County's property tax structure and limitations, see the Tax Supervising & Conservation Commission web page.