A looming budget deficit was already heavy on the minds of Portland’s new elected officials when they entered office this month. Now, two weeks into the job, they’ve learned that the problem could nearly quadruple in size.

On Friday, the city administrator’s office informed the officials that the anticipated $27 million budget gap for the upcoming fiscal year, which starts July 1, is now projected to be $67 million. And it’s expected to grow.

In all, the city estimates it will need to reduce spending by more than $100 million to cover the budget shortfall.

“We inherited an unprecedented and painful budget crisis,” Mayor Keith Wilson and Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney said in a joint statement Friday.

The budget gap is due to a mix of factors: inflation, the expiration of pandemic-era federal funds, increasing health care costs, new spending tied to public labor union contracts, and more. Property and business tax payments, which make up 75% of city revenue, have also plummeted in recent years.

An advisory group that Gov. Tina Kotek convened to analyze Portland’s economic outlook released a report Thursday, which concludes that new voter-approved taxes have pushed wealthier taxpayers and businesses out of the city, and that has hurt the city budget’s bottom line.

The Friday memo from Portland City Administrator Michael Jordan and Chief Financial Officer Jonas Biery also points to the increased staffing for council and mayoral offices, which could cost $11 million a year, as a contributing factor to the budget gap.

Mayor Wilson is responsible for drafting the city’s next fiscal budget, which will need city council’s approval to go into effect. The Friday memo suggests areas where city officials could cut spending to keep the budget afloat to fill the previously estimated $27 million budget shortfall. While they have yet to factor in more significant cuts, the memo hints at serious cuts to critical programs across the city.

That includes shutting down beloved Portland Parks & Recreation programs, community centers, and pools, and reducing park maintenance and trash clean-up to close a $23 million budget hole. These cuts could be more severe if Portlanders choose not to renew a parks levy expected to go to voters later this year.

The Portland Permitting & Development office’s budget relies heavily on revenues from building permits, which have dipped 14% in the past year. The memo suggests this office should cut its budget by around $10 million.

Portland Solutions, a department that oversees homeless shelters, homeless outreach programs and waste cleanup, was established with the help of one-time federal dollars following the COVID-19 pandemic. With $10 million of those funds expiring this year, the city will need to find new resources to fill the gap, or start cutting staff that cleans up city streets and removes homeless camps.

The memo also anticipates $25 million in cuts to the Portland Bureau of Transportation, including street paving, streetlight maintenance and traffic safety projects.

Community safety, water and environmental service programs are also on the chopping block.

The memo also predicts a need to cut more than 120 jobs to balance the budget. Again, this reflects just a slice of anticipated job cuts, since these estimates were made based solely on the initial $27 million budget gap.

The city administrator’s office will make its final recommendations for budget cuts at the end of February. It may reflect other new sources of revenue, like business tax dollars collected through the Portland Clean Energy Fund. On Thursday, the board that oversees the climate action fund discussed a proposal to send nearly $19 million in revenue to bolster the city’s budget.

The city will hold public listening sessions on the budget in each of Portland’s four districts starting on Jan. 28.

In their statement on Friday, Wilson and Pirtle-Guiney urged public involvement..

“It is critical that we approach these decisions with a spirit of collaboration and transparency to ensure our actions are in the best interest of all Portland residents,” they wrote.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/01/17/portland-city-budget-shortfall-department-funding/