Members of the Mossyrock City Council approved the city’s 2026 budget and property tax levy during their regular monthly meeting on Nov. 19.
According to Mossyrock City Treasurer Jessica Bragg, the draft budget had no major changes since the last draft presented at the previous meeting, and the property tax levy rate is being raised by 1% annually as allowed by state law.
“The budget has remained the same at $1.4 (million). We’ve had two previous meetings regarding this same budget. The only thing is that it’s all pretty to be sent to the county,” Bragg said.
Mossyrock’s property evaluation in 2025 was $85,226,241 with the property tax levy rate set at just under $1.05 per $1,000 of assessed property value, putting the 2025 property tax levy collected by the City of Mossyrock at $89,474.
The 1% increase puts the 2026 property tax levy collected by Mossyrock at an estimated $90,368.74.
While she had reviewed the previous drafts provided to the council earlier during the budget drafting process, Mossyrock City Councilor Shannon Mcarron stated she hadn’t had enough time to review the newest draft and wanted to table the vote to approve the budget.
While she motioned to table the budget, the motion was not seconded.
Ultimately both the 2026 property tax levy and budget for the City of Mossyrock were approved by a vote of 3-0, with Mcarron abstaining from votes on both motions.
Also in attendance at the meeting was Morton Police Chief Cole Cournyer, who aside from being there to talk about the interlocal agreement (ILA) between Mossyrock and Morton for policing services, was also there to talk about stray dogs.
More coverage on the ILA talk can be found in another article in this edition of The Chronicle.
“We’re seeing a big problem with dogs in Morton and Mossyrock, especially in Mossyrock,” Cournyer said. “We’ve had bites. We’ve had dogs at large. We’ve had dogs charge at people. Just want everybody to know that there are ordinances regarding animals. They have to be controlled, kept in fences or homes, and if they’re outside, they have to be on leash or some form of control. It does present a liability, with animals running at large, attacking people, biting people, so we are taking full enforcement actions on any violations.”
During the Oct. 27 Morton City Council meeting, a resident spoke during public comment, also raising concerns about loose dogs charging and attacking people.
In fact, the stray dog problem in both Morton and Mossyrock has gotten so bad, one of Cournoyer's officers, Morton Police Officer Jessica Stevens, was still on medical leave and recovering from getting attacked by a dog recently.
“She’s recovering. She’s anxious to get back to work, but she is doing well,” Cournyer added.
Her injuries were serious enough to require reconstructive surgery on her hand, and she was going through physical therapy as part of her recovery.
The Morton Police Department’s reserve officer has been helping Cournyer amid Stevens’ absence. But her injuries haven’t stopped her from still trying to work.
Even during her time off for recovery, Stevens has been driving around making notes of areas where stray and loose dogs are to visit when she’s back on patrol.
Sasser added he’s also seen bite victims in Mossyrock.
“There was an individual who was running and got bit — he actually showed me his arm. And that was down there on Hope Street,” Sasser said.
He also said city staff had already sent out letters to already known residents who let their dogs roam loose in town that, per city code, their animals need to be licensed with the city and either kept on the resident’s private property in a fenced area, indoors, leashed or controlled some other way.
Toward the end of the meeting, Sasser also mentioned that gates were being installed to the entrance of Klickitat Prairie Park.
“When the park is closed, the gates will be closed and locked. With that, we gotta make sure emergency services have keys to get in there,” Sasser said. “So that hopefully will cut down on the vandalism that we have there in the park and the destruction that’s taking place.”
One of the main problems city staff have had have been trespassers bringing their trucks in to do donuts on park property, causing damage to the parking lot and grass.
Finally, at the end of the meeting, Mossyrock resident Ronald Lindgren was appointed and sworn in to the vacant councilor position by Sasser.
The council vacancy came back in August when former Mossyrock City Councilor Craig Byrum resigned due to health concerns.
