Lake Oswego Real Estate > Lake Oswego Community Info

The city has over twenty neighborhood associations and nearly a dozen citizen advisory boards. The Lake Oswego City Charter establishes a council-manager form of government, which vests policy authority in a volunteer City Council and administrative authority for day-to-day operations in an appointed, professional City Manager. The Lake Oswego City Council consists of a mayor and six councilors who serve four-year terms.

Lake Oswego has full-service police and fire departments, a heavily used library and an award-winning senior center. The city also provides planning, engineering, water, sanitary sewer and surface water systems. In addition, there is a city-owned water sports center on the Willamette River, two public swimming facilities on the 405-acre Oswego Lake, a self-financed 18-hole public golf course, and an indoor tennis center.

The city's primary sources of revenue are property taxes, sales and services, franchise fees and intergovernmental agreements. The primary expenditures are public safety, parks and recreation, debt service, redevelopment, library and general administration.

The schools in Lake Oswego rate among the best in the country. The Lake Oswego School District operates two high schools, two junior high schools and nine elementary schools. There are several colleges in or near Lake Oswego, including Lewis & Clark College and its affiliate Northwestern School of Law, Marylhurst University, and Portland Community College (Sylvania campus).