This Wednesday, the new 12-person Portland City Council will face the most consequential task of their first few months in office: approving the city’s annual budget.

Mayor Keith Wilson released his proposed budget May 5, and it’s been constant politicking in City Hall since. This week offers an opportunity for the eager new councilors to formally weigh in and reflect their campaign promises and policy goals.

And they’re not holding back. This year, councilors are expected to propose between 80 and 120 budget amendments total. While the details won’t be fully fleshed out until an hours-long council meeting Wednesday, councilors have already made dozens of their proposals public.

Some are minor tweaks, others are significant cuts. Many of the amendments hit on similar themes, which help explain the politics of the new governing body and hint at the kind of budget debates that will take center stage Wednesday. Here‘s where councilors are focusing much of their energy this budget cycle:

Saving parks maintenance

Wilson’s proposed budget suggests making nearly $7 million in cuts to maintenance in Portland Parks & Recreation. If approved, the changes would see a reduction in bathroom cleaning, trash clean-up, playground repairs, tree maintenance, and other programs. Nearly all councilors have raised concerns about this proposal, and many have put forward budget adjustments to save these programs.

Councilor Eric Zimmerman, who chairs the city’s Finance Committee, has proposed saving $5.8 million by cutting around 30 tree inspector jobs in the Parks Bureau and putting that money toward maintenance. That plan also moves the city’s tree regulation program from the Parks Bureau into Portland Permitting & Development.

Councilor Steve Novick, meanwhile, has suggested closing two facilities run by the Parks Bureaus — the Multnomah Arts Center and Community Music Center — to save nearly $2 million, rather than by slashing parks maintenance.

Both Councilor Angelita Morillo and Councilor Candace Avalos are looking to make around $2 million in staffing cuts in the Portland Police Bureau to fill the maintenance hole.

Cutting economic development programs

Councilors Mitch Green and Jamie Dunphy have teamed up on a controversial proposal to withhold all city budget dollars from Prosper Portland, the city’s economic development program.

Prosper Portland oversees a number of Tax Increment Finance districts, which use revenue from increased property taxes in a certain geographic district to invest in new urban development projects in that area. This tool was previously called “Urban Renewal,” a phrase that carries the stigma of the historic harm these kinds of projects have done to low-income communities of color through gentrification. In recent years, City Council has pushed for more community engagement to ensure TIF revenues are spent equitably. In that same spirit, they directed Prosper Portland to put excess, unspent TIF revenues into a Strategic Investment Fund, a bucket of money that can be used to offer loans to small businesses and development projects located outside of a TIF district.

Green and Dunphy want to claw back the $13 million in general fund cash that covers Prosper Portland’s annual operating costs. They want the agency to tap the Strategic Investment Fund instead.

Prosper Portland’s volunteer oversight board members say they will not support any cuts to the Strategic Investment Fund, a program they say reflects the equity goals of the city department. This means the cuts would instead land in the program’s basic operating budget, which could lead to more than 30 layoffs — and leave few employees left to oversee programs.

In a letter sent to City Council last week, Prosper Portland Board Chair Gustavo Cruz and Prosper Portland Interim Director Shea Flaherty Betin wrote the proposal “would undo years of progress in community-centered economic development and compromise the city’s ability to meet its economic justice goals.”

Green and Dunphy have rejected this narrative. In a memo shared with OPB on Monday, they wrote the proposal would give the City Council more control over how Prosper Portland‘s money is spent — instead of leaving it up to a “non-elected, non-accountable body.”

A number of small business groups and leaders — along with Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney — have come out in opposition to the amendment.

Taking Mayor Wilson’s proposed fees further

Wilson’s proposed budget introduces several fee hikes to cover revenue shortfalls in the Portland Bureau of Transportation. A number of councilors want to raise those rates higher to keep the Transportation Bureau running.

Currently, rideshare companies must pay the city 65 cents per ride in Portland. Wilson wants to raise that to $1.30 per ride. Councilors Morillo, Novick, Green and Dunphy have all signed on to an amendment to spike that fee to $2 per ride.

Wilson has also suggested increasing the cost of a 9-hole round of golf at one of the city’s four golf courses by $1. Green and Dunphy want to make that a $5 increase.

Rethinking public safety spending

Using PPB dollars to cover holes in the Parks Bureau isn’t the only way councilors are tinkering with public safety funds.

Novick is using a budget amendment to propose a policy change. He wants to see the police bureau rely less on armed officers to respond to low-level 911 calls characterized as “welfare checks.” These are mostly calls where someone is concerned about the health and safety of another person, and wants an officer to check on them. Novick has suggested that PPB instead send an unarmed Public Safety Support Specialist or Portland Street Response clinician to the scene, giving armed officers time to respond to other, higher-priority calls.

He believes this could save the city $3 million in police overtime costs. Like other amendments, Novick suggests putting these cost savings into the parks maintenance fund.

Avalos also wants to address public safety overtime expenses. She‘s asked the city to move 75% of all projected overtime funds for PPB and the Portland Fire Bureau into a pot of money controlled by City Council. If either bureau wants to tap the overtime funds, they will need to submit a formal request to council.

Councilor Sameer Kanal, meanwhile, is proposing to boost PPB’s overtime fund by $2.5 million. He‘s also looking to commit ongoing funding to other public safety programs, like those that address gun violence and respond to low-level medical calls.

Business groups have swiftly pushed back at councilors’ proposed cuts to police funding. The Portland Metro Chamber, along with Portland Trail Blazers and Portland Timbers leadership, have sent letters to the city urging support for the public safety funding plan included in Wilson’s proposed budget.

Adjusting housing and homelessness costs

Wilson’s budget is centered on his plan to open hundreds of new shelter beds by December. But councilors have other suggestions on how the city should address housing affordability and homelessness.

Some want to see more support for renters. Morillo hopes for $1 million to cover a rental assistance and eviction legal defense program in the Portland Housing Bureau, similar to a program the bureau ran during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both Avalos and Green want to find around $400,000 to subsidize rent payments for low-income tenants living at the Everett Station Lofts, who’ve accused the city of overcharging them.

These amendments echo concerns raised by affordable housing advocacy groups, like the Welcome Home Coalition, who believe Wilson’s laser focus on short-term shelter beds misses the mark.

Councilor Loretta Smith, meanwhile, is looking to chip away at revenue currently earmarked for the joint city-county Homeless Services Department (formerly called the Joint Office of Homeless Services). Smith has repeatedly raised alarm that the city is paying to operate its own homeless shelters when it already shells out tens of millions of dollars to the county to run shelters.

She has introduced two amendments that take back millions of city dollars from the Homeless Services Department and spend that on other programs, like ones that fund small business loans or sidewalk maintenance work.

What’s next?

On Wednesday, councilors will need to vote on which amendments they support — and must approve a balanced budget. It won’t be a simple task: Which is why the city has set aside at least 12 hours to figure this out Wednesday.

Councilors are able to make a few more minor budget adjustments before June 11, when they’ll vote to formally adopt the budget. Follow the process – and offer testimony — here.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/05/20/heres-how-portland-councilors-want-to-tweak-mayor-wilsons-budget/