Answer: $4.

City officials like to highlight that number. It makes Wilsonville seem like a bargain.

And it is a bargain! Think of all the great services you get for $4 a day — a public library, police protection, mass transit, activities for seniors and children, beautiful parks and playgrounds, not to mention clean drinking water, treated wastewater, and well-maintained roads.

Unfortunately, we have other taxes from the the school district, fire district, county, state, and federal government.

We have rent or mortgage payments, food, medical expenses, electricity, phone, television, internet, and gas, just to name a few.

Not all of these are bargains. And they become less of a bargain year after year as prices go up and up and up.

What isn’t going up is the average household’s purchasing power. Many families are not seeing their wages keep up with inflation. Almost everyone has to make cuts, either small or substantial.

Governments are making cuts as well. The federal government recently cut subsidies to counties that have seen decreasing revenues from federal timber sales.

Clackamas County will lose millions. County officials in turn have begun to eliminate library service and could charge Wilsonville up to $500,000 per year more for police service.

Like with household income, Wilsonville’s income is not keeping up with increased costs. The general fund is slowly losing ground as growth in expenses outpaces growth in revenues.

Some may see the budget committee’s decision to bring back the detective position as a sign that the city isn’t facing a financial crisis.

True. The potential crisis is in the future, yet it is no less real.

If the library special district is not approved by voters in November, the Wilsonville library will face a crisis.

The city will be forced to try to raise additional general fund money — either through a local option levy or parks maintenance fee — or make substantial service cuts within the next five years.

Despite this fact, we were surprised to see only one citizen asking questions of the Wilsonville Budget Committee during this year’s public hearing.

With a population of 17,000, surely more than one citizen has an opinion about how their $4 per day is spent.