Windowbox · Portland City Council

Portland's budget office told the City Council the current year's general fund gap has grown to $21.9 million and laid out how a Spring Technical Adjustment Ordinance would close it — a work session that drew sustained objections from several councilors over forecasting, process, and cuts that were authorized but never made.

The council took no vote. The ordinance gets its first reading Wednesday, April 8 (00:14:28).

The gap and how staff propose to close it

Chief Financial Officer Jonas Biery said a $17.1 million revenue shortfall for the current fiscal year was confirmed in the interim forecast published March 24, driven mainly by utility license fee revenue that came in lower after a milder-than-expected winter cut energy use; business license taxes came in as expected. Adding overspending and a revenue timing adjustment, Budget Director Ruth Levine put the total gap to solve at $21.9 million (00:16:04).

The proposed fixes include drawing $2.5 million of a $3 million unrestricted contingency, using $3.3 million in remaining compensation set-aside, $2.3 million in technology-reserve excess, $2 million from the Bancroft Bond Fund, $1.4 million in police asset-forfeiture money for event overtime, and $4.25 million from the Housing Investment Fund's short-term rental account (00:19:17). The roughly $7 million discretionary in the Portland Harbor Reserve is not being drawn. Levine said the projected $3.6 million overspend is driven "exclusively" by public safety bureaus, while other bureaus are projected to underspend by a combined $4 million.

Councilor Mitch Green (District 4) established the city is not deficit-spending now; the overspend is projected only if the budget is left unchanged. Levine confirmed a placeholder 10% "enterprise efficiency" reduction was assumed but realized only for communications, leaving the rest as a current-year liability, and that vacancy savings kept the shortfall from reaching about $25 million (00:25:07).

Councilors press on cuts that were authorized but not made

Councilor Sameer Kanal (District 2) asked why, when the council authorized reductions of 9.5% the first year and 10.5% the second, the response to falling short was a request for more appropriation rather than operational action. He said he was "not suggesting the course of action I'm asking about" — that is, layoffs. City Administrator Raymond C. Lee said some cuts were not made because of carryover effects into next year and would require council direction. Mayor Keith Wilson said he and Mike Jordan set the targets in a "dynamic situation" and that City Operations found continuing cuts "would start to degrade service" (01:00:00). Green said the situation was foreseeable: "That's exactly what I said in this seat in the fall, and I told you so" (01:05:09).

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Portland's Public Works bureaus told the City Council on March 19 that they manage $77 billion in assets against a $14.2 billion deferred-maintenance backlog, and that closing FY2026-27 budget gaps will require either raising rates and fees or cutting services Portlanders use daily. The council took no votes at the work session, the fourth in a series ahead of the mayor's proposed budget.

The scale and the gaps

Deputy City Administrator Priya Dhanapal, presenting for the Public Works Service Area, said the four bureaus run a budget of about $4.7 billion — roughly half the city's total — with about 31,000 full-time staff (00:10:28). She returned repeatedly to the $14.2 billion deferred-maintenance figure (00:12:20), telling the council that deferred work "does not go away. It compounds." To make the point about the pace of replacement, staff walked through the water system's 22,050 miles of pipe against about 5 miles replaced each year — a roughly 400-year cycle for pipes built to last 50 to 100 (00:15:15).

Dhanapal said the bureaus face gaps of about $7 million each for the combined water and sewer utilities and for Parks, and about $25 million for the Portland Bureau of Transportation over its five-year plan, driven by state funding losses and declining parking revenue (00:24:49).

Water rates and the 40-year bond

The Water Bureau offered three scenarios: Scenario 1 holds current service at a 9.8% rate increase; Scenario 2 stays near 8.1% using a 40-year bond for the Bull Run Filtration Project plus $1 million in cuts; Scenario 3 cuts deeper for about a 7% increase (00:28:01). Staff said extending the filtration bond from 30 to 40 years would raise total borrowing costs by about $900 million (00:29:57). The difference between Scenarios 1 and 2 for a typical single-family household is about $1.82 per month in FY26-27 (00:38:01).

Councilor Mitch Green (District 4) said he opposed Scenario 3 and would back Scenario 2, arguing a 100-year asset should be financed over time. Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney (District 2) went the other way: "I'm not comfortable with any of those scenarios," she said, asking staff to model a 30-year bond with Scenario 2's cuts (01:57:56). Water Bureau staff answered that a 30-year term would land near Scenario 1's rates, dropping only from 9.8% to 9.4% in year one — and disclosed that the 9.8% figure itself already draws on rate stabilization funds (02:02:53).

Councilor Dan Ryan (District 2) asked the city's chief financial officer to settle the question. CFO Jonas Biery called extending debt "literally kicking the can" and said: "If you're asking me as CFO what my recommendation is with all those trade-offs considered, it is not extending beyond the 30-year timeframe." (02:18:14) Green later returned to argue that a $2 change on an average bill was unlikely to alter behavior and that dense growth would lower the city's cost per unit of infrastructure (02:28:28).

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Portland's City Council let its rewrite of the chronic nuisance property code slide to a future meeting after a motion to send the measure back to committee failed 4-6 (03:02:31) and the clock ran out on debate.

Chronic nuisance code stalls after long fight

The council spent more than two hours on an ordinance from Councilor Steve Novick (District 3), who chairs the Community and Public Safety Committee, to rewrite Portland's chronic nuisance property code around human trafficking and gun violence. The measure would loosen the trigger for declaring a property a nuisance — current code requires three documented instances in 30 days, which Novick said law enforcement called "too restrictive" (01:05:15) — and would raise the minimum civil penalty from $100 to $1,000 per day (01:03:10). A package of amendments from Novick and Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney (District 2) would move the threshold to three instances in 90 days, remove loitering to solicit prostitution as a nuisance activity, and tighten how notice reaches property owners.

Deputy District Attorney J.R. Ujifusa of Multnomah County told the council the average age of entry for trafficking victims is 13 to 15 (01:09:46) and cited a Portland State University study identifying over 400 local victims. Two survivors testified in support. Robin Miller, who said she was "bought and sold on 82nd Avenue," said motels "are hubs of exploitation" (01:39:18). State Representative Tran, whose district includes McDaniel High School, called the ordinance "a surgical tool" (01:43:50) and noted the Oregon Senate had unanimously passed House Bill 4157. Motel owner Kanan Patel said she was told after reporting a drug dealer near her Sandy Boulevard property, "so we are gonna shoot your child" (01:47:29).

Opponents warned of displacement. Emiko Yama, a survivor and advocate, said Seattle recently designated a business a chronic nuisance based partly on a police report generated when someone there called 911, "a textbook example of unintended consequences" (01:54:26). A consensual sex worker who goes by Theo urged the council to work with BIPOC-led sex worker organizations on decriminalization.

Councilor Candace Avalos (District 1) pressed for metrics on whether the designation reduces trafficking or moves it. Novick said "if there's fewer places for exploitation to occur," that reduces trafficking (02:22:32). When he described McDaniel students walking through "a gauntlet of sex trafficking," Avalos told him, "please do not lecture me about the impact. I am aware" (02:26:40). Councilor Sameer Kanal (District 2) said "one of the most dangerous things a person with... decision-making authority can do, is to recognize a real problem and say just we have to do something" (02:35:19) and argued the ordinance would target hotel and motel owners rather than traffickers. He asked why the council's budget guidance to move overtime money to the Police Bureau's Human Trafficking Unit had not been followed.

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Portland and Multnomah County officials met in a joint work session on March 17 to sort out overlapping homelessness roles as both governments head into budgets facing deep cuts, with the county proposing to close roughly 775 shelter units — a reduction of about $30 million — on top of about 230 units already closing this fiscal year (01:04:19). The session took no votes; council does not act at work sessions.

Shelter closures and the budget squeeze

Anna Plum, interim director of the county Homeless Services Department, said the adopted budget already closes 230 shelter units in two programs, and the requested budget closes about 775 more, primarily in the adult system. She said the "over 1,000 beds" figure circulating publicly is additive across periods and includes closures already planned. The savings from the requested closures total about $30 million (01:06:10).

Jillian Schoene, director of the Homelessness Response System, said the county announced it needs to take $68 million in cuts, with about half tied to the city's current intention to keep money it normally sends across the river (01:06:31). She described a shared "fiscal cliff" as one-time federal ARPA and Metro Supportive Housing Services dollars run out, and said the two governments spend about $150 million on shelter combined (01:19:06).

The city's interlocal agreement sends $31.5 million to the county, funding 756 shelter units and 218 transitional housing units, Chair Jessica Vega Peterson said (01:00:52).

Councilor Tiffany Koyama Lane (District 3) pressed on closures affecting Beacon Village in Montavilla and said constituents cannot reconcile the cuts with "hundreds of millions of dollars going to the Moda Center" (01:04:19). Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards noted that Sunstone, a city and county provider, announced closing June 30, and asked whether residents would exit "to the street," calling for a "person-level transition plan" (01:29:31).

Councilor Dan Ryan (District 2) questioned why the county was abandoning a shelter-building goal set two years earlier: "Why is the county choosing to cut so many shelter beds in this upcoming budget?" (00:56:55). Plum, who led that subcommittee, said the community sheltering strategy was set "in a very, very different funding scenario" and the current recommendation is about balancing shelter against housing placement.

Who does what

Schoene laid out a division of labor when Councilor Angelita Morillo (District 3) asked her to say plainly what the city should focus on. Schoene recommended the city lead on housing development and economic development, and that all 24/7 shelter "go back to the county," while keeping "200 to 300" overnight-only beds online during a transition for public space management (01:21:31). She said 84% of people placed in permanent supportive housing remain two years later (00:45:42).

Councilor Candace Avalos (District 1), who chairs the housing committee, said councilors agree the city's first priority is "bricks and sticks" — housing production — and that many colleagues want to move the city out of operating shelters (00:08:08). She argued the strongest driver of homelessness is structural: "the strongest predictor is whether people can afford housing" (01:40:00).

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The council adopted a resolution declaring that Portland will defend transgender and LGBTQIA2S+ residents and won't use city resources to help other states prosecute people for healthcare that is legal in Oregon, passing 12-0 (01:58:02).

The resolution moved alongside an ordinance amending the Civil Rights Code, which passed 11-0 with Councilor Loretta Smith (District 1) absent (01:45:15). Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney (District 2) said the ordinance eliminates outdated code and ensures transgender Portlanders "can use public restrooms without fear of criminalization," and expands protections in housing, employment, and healthcare. Councilor Dan Ryan (District 2), calling in remotely, said he would have preferred the original broader language and voiced discomfort that language on throuples and poly families was added "at the last second," but supported both measures. Councilor Steve Novick (District 3) recalled the state's 2004 loss on same-sex marriage; Councilor Eric Zimmerman (District 4) noted the city was now "having to say" it would not help another state prosecute a resident.

Campaign finance code advances with two amendments

An ordinance from Auditor Simone Rede to keep Portland's voter-approved campaign finance rules enforceable passed to a second reading as amended, set for March 18 at 6:00 p.m. Rede described the measure as "a technical fix" to a section voters approved in 2018 that a circuit court found invalid in 2025, aiming to enforce rules in the November 2026 election. A Morillo amendment limiting the auditor's discretion to extend the sufficiency-review deadline passed 9-3 (01:20:20), with Smith, Ryan, and Zimmerman opposed. A Kanal amendment requiring notice to the subject of a complaint within two days and public posting of extensions every 14 days passed 11-1 (01:25:34), with Smith opposed.

Zimmerman warned a fixed 14-day timeline could force the auditor to open an investigation days before an election, raising a "Comey" concern. Councilor Angelita Morillo (District 3) responded that a set timeline "removes the political decision aspect," since the alternative gives the auditor discretion that "could become a political decision." Councilor Candace Avalos (District 1) noted 87% of Portland voters approved the reforms and urged touching the law "as little as possible." Council President Jamie Dunphy (District 1) noted the body spent 25 minutes on an amendment "adding 9 words and removing 9 words" (01:18:23).

PCEF plan passes after equity-language dispute

An amendment to the Portland Clean Energy Fund Climate Investment Plan passed 9-3 (03:01:35), with Councilors Sameer Kanal (District 2), Morillo, and Mitch Green (District 4) opposed. The dispute centered on language struck from pages 23-24 of the plan covering the Portland Housing Bureau's equity-in-contracting and workforce-diversity programs. Program manager Sam Barrasso said numeric contracting goals were pulled back in response to the mayor's executive order, with no hard timeline for replacement. Deputy City Administrator Donnie Oliveira said the struck text was taken verbatim from a housing bureau webpage that was unpublished in October, and committed to replacement language in about 30 days.

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City budget staff told the council that the current model for funding Portland Solutions — which faces a combined shelter and cleanup gap topping $65 million next year — "is simply not sustainable," and laid out a citywide reorganization that would cut roughly 98 positions to save about $23.7 million.

The March 11 work session, the second of two on public works, the City Administrator's office, and city operations, took no votes. Council President Jamie Dunphy (District 1) presided. City Administrator Raymond C. Lee opened by warning the council that programs run by Portland Solutions have been kept alive largely with one-time money.

The Portland Solutions funding gap

Lee said "it's simply not sustainable to continue funding Portland Solutions and their programming in our current model" (00:29:38). The bureau faces a $35.3 million gap for alternative shelters, a $19.8 million gap for emergency overnight shelter, a $4.2 million gap for the Street Service Coordination Center, and a $5.8 million shortfall to keep clean-up programming going (00:25:12) as one-time state, county and federal money ends.

Skyler Bruckner-Knapp, director of Portland Solutions, told the council that fundraising had become central to the job: "I feel like a huge part of my job is being a fundraiser, which is not what I signed up for" (00:54:34). She asked for one more budget cycle before major decisions, saying it takes three to four months just to decommission a single alternative shelter site.

Bruckner-Knapp said overnight shelters run at 60 to 70 percent capacity while alternative shelters run over 100 percent, and named three alternative-shelter contractors: Cultivate Initiatives, Sunstone Way, and Urban Alchemy (00:52:38). Councilor Mitch Green (District 4) said complaints he has heard center on wraparound services "not seeing the wraparound services from Urban Alchemy as promised" (00:54:00); Bruckner-Knapp said she was "really proud of the care coordination" and offered data and a site tour. Councilor Dan Ryan (District 2) asked to compare placement results across the three providers. Bruckner-Knapp said the city received $15 million from Metro's supportive-housing tax for overnight shelters this fiscal year and $10 million in county general fund (00:40:44).

Whether cutting revenue collectors costs the city money

Vice President Olivia Clark (District 4) cautioned against being "pennywise and pound foolish" by cutting staff who bring in money (00:33:44). Chief Financial Officer Jonas Biery agreed the trade-off in the reduction scenarios is "net negative" and said his office has "nothing that we provide that isn't bare-bones essential services" (00:46:11). Dunphy cited that "for every million dollars the IRS spends on tax collectors, they collect $10 million" (00:45:30) and asked whether adding collection staff would net more revenue; Biery said returns diminish at the top end and promised analysis. Councilor Steve Novick (District 3) said staff should focus on the business license tax rather than the $35 arts tax.

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Portland's 12 councilors spent a Saturday work session setting collective strategic priorities — safety, housing and homelessness, economy, core services, and infrastructure — with no votes taken, though the day surfaced sharp disagreements over policing, equity, and how the city talks about business.

The session, run by outside consultants and convened by Council President Jamie Dunphy (District 1), was billed as the first step toward a city strategic plan. The facilitators drew a distinction between a "strategic vision," which they said elected officials set, and a "strategic plan," which City Administrator Raymond C. Lee and staff build. Sameer Kanal (District 2) pushed back that the exercise felt "very staff-driven," saying the council had been "dealing with rubber stamp expectations for a year"; a facilitator answered the goal was "true alignment, not rubber stamping" (01:18:20).

A clash over "late-stage capitalism" and business

The day's first flashpoint came when the top-voted "hope for Portland" read: a city that "embodies the opposite of the worst stereotype of late-stage American capitalism." Dan Ryan (District 2) asked how it would "all pencil out," saying long-established small businesses were leaving and "We're leading the pack in terms of the exits" (01:48:25). Jamie Dunphy, who wrote the entry, said Portland leans into "our identity as a small business town." Candace Avalos (District 1) pressed Ryan: "you said that small businesses was what you cared about, and you named not small businesses. So could you tell me what you mean?" (01:50:27). Ryan later said his questions came "from curiosity."

Angelita Morillo (District 3) asked colleagues to treat terms "with curiosity," noting "we only have 4 socialists on City Council right now" (01:57:15). Sameer Kanal pointed out that Nike, Columbia Sportswear and Adidas all began small or with a small local presence.

Defining safety, and a pointed exchange over policing

Members spent extended time defining "community safety" versus "public safety." Jamie Dunphy called public safety "interventionist" and community safety "far broader." Mitch Green (District 4) framed public safety as "almost paternalistic" and community safety as more "democratic." Steve Novick (District 3) said he saw no substantive difference, calling it "generational word choice." The group settled on the single word "safety" as the priority label.

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City finance staff told the council Portland faces an $18 million general fund shortfall for the current fiscal year and proposed filling it without cutting staff or services, drawing objections from several members to using reserves and to pulling money from council office budgets. The March 5 work session took no vote; ordinances are set for April 8 and 15.

The gap and the good news

Chief Financial Officer Jonas Biery opened by saying that "while a deficit is never great news, there actually is a little bit of good news" (00:07:46). The $18 million current-year gap sits at the low end of the $15 to $25 million range staff had earlier communicated (00:08:17). A January 7 email from City Administrator Raymond Lee had flagged a possible gap of up to $26 million. Biery said staff "believe there are viable solutions that avoid any reductions to staff or service levels in this fiscal year" (00:08:17).

Budget Director Ruth Levine said the December 2025 forecast identified a $13.6 million current-year deficit, and revenues are now tracking about $3.5 million below that forecast, driven by lower Utility License Fee revenue (00:14:37). Business license tax collections remain roughly on track. Levine also disclosed that a planned health fund interfund loan has grown to $15 million from the $10 million previously discussed, though repayment costs are already built into assumed benefit increases (00:38:32).

Two buckets of fixes

Staff split proposed solutions into two groups. The first, which drew broad support, would use $2 million of the $3 million unrestricted contingency, pull $0.8 million in council operations underspending, reallocate leftover compensation set-aside, return technology reserve overcharges, take $2 million from the Bancroft Bond Sinking Fund, and pull about $1.4 million from the Police Bureau's asset forfeiture fund. Together those total $11.4 million and take the gap down to $6.6 million remaining (00:28:23).

The second bucket, described as more discretionary, included a $4 million transfer from a short-term rental housing fund, a $2.2 million council-office underspending option, a draw from the Portland Harbor cleanup reserve, and about $1.8 million in targeted bureau reductions, roughly $500,000 of it graffiti abatement (00:33:26). Biery acknowledged the $4 million housing figure "was right in the middle" of a $3 million and $5 million option; Councilor Angelita Morillo (District 3) called it "very scientific" (01:18:07). Biery later corrected himself on which housing subfund is most flexible — the 2% short-term rental pot of about $8.6 million, not the 0-to-60 fund shown on the slide. Councilor Steve Novick (District 3) responded, "Damn, you just cost the general fund $3.5 million" (01:27:18).

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Portland's City Council spent a three-hour work session on March 5 trying to pin down how much of roughly $106 million in unbudgeted housing money it can actually spend, and left without allocating any of it — the meeting took no vote.

Council President Jamie Dunphy (District 1) opened the session and handed facilitation to Candace Avalos (District 1), who chairs the Housing and Homelessness Committee. Interim Portland Housing Bureau director Michael Bonacore walked members through six fund tables and a central caution: the headline figure is misleading. "I think the public, I think, does not yet fully understand that there is not $106 million to spend," he said, telling council that $21 million in unspent Rental Services Office money "should have been put out into the community" and that most of the rest is committed to projects or planned solicitations. He said no funds had been found missing or misspent, and that the bureau had been 00:12:00. Over five years the bureau produced 00:48:55, and Bonacore warned that bond and tax-increment funding will decline sharply in coming years.

A disputed $137 million

Angelita Morillo (District 3, she/her) opened questioning with a number that shadowed the rest of the morning. The City Budget Office, she said, had sent out beginning fund balances showing 00:28:57 — well above the $106 million under discussion. Jonas Biery, whose office includes the city controller, said he was "honestly struggling to track those numbers," cited accrual differences and a gap fiscal year, and said he would report the reconciled figure and its reasons in the 00:31:10. Morillo said her office first raised the issue at the 00:32:13. When Biery tried to answer, she cut in: 00:32:15 Biery said staff were 00:32:40 amid media misinformation. Morillo pressed that 00:38:05 The reconciled figure was not established at the meeting.

"Hidden from us"

Loretta Smith (District 1, she/her) pursued whether the money had been disclosed to the city's outside auditors and in its credit rating; Biery said the historical audit and rating reflected the full amounts. Smith drew a sharper conclusion about the budget council voted on: 01:04:31 and later, of the non-disclosure, 01:07:40 Asked directly whether more money existed above the $106 million, Bonacore said, 01:08:46 Smith's own proposal, "Smith 1," totals $41 million, putting $20.7 million into rent assistance and returning about 01:40:18.

What council can actually move

Mitch Green (District 3, he/him) narrowed the field: about $55.9 million is at council's discretion — $20.7 million fully, another $30.4 million conditionally tied to future solicitations, and 00:53:36 City Attorney's Office attorney Adrian Delgado said the 00:40:44, drawn from the transient lodging tax, could return entirely to the general fund, while the restricted 0-60-night fee could not. Dan Ryan (District 2, he/him) established the bureau needs about 01:28:42, with roughly $31 million passing through to Multnomah County.

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Portland's City Council voted 9-3 to accept a Supporting Portland's Storefronts report establishing a Storefront Support Program, (04:06:26) capping a meeting that ran nearly two hours past its calendar and left half the agenda — including a package defending transgender and LGBTQIA2S+ residents — unheard.

Storefront program report accepted over methodology objections

The report, sponsored by Councilor Dan Ryan (District 2), grew from a proposal he first brought forward a year earlier and had passed the full council unanimously as a budget note and resolution. Ryan named a stakeholder group of business owners and said, "It is SOS time for our city when it comes to storefronts. Save our storefronts."

The report drew objections over how it was built. Councilor Candace Avalos (District 1) questioned whether East Portland and BIPOC-owned businesses were proportionally represented, criticized the report's reliance on roughly 2,500 informal "door knocker" conversations, and asked why Portland Solutions led the work rather than Prosper Portland. Councilor Sameer Kanal (District 2) said, "I'm supportive of the program... I'm not supportive of the report," describing it as "vibes-based" and as relying on "approval... of a budget request we have not even seen." Councilor Angelita Morillo (District 3) said the report "can't just be vibes-based." Councilor Eric Zimmerman (District 4) defended it: "I never expected to get a scientific PSU-based... research study. I think that the Portland vibe is exactly what we're talking about." (04:00:26)

Victor Sanders of Portland Solutions and Anne Hill, director of PMO, told the council the program would proceed regardless of the vote. When Sanders said, "council gave me 90 days to complete this work," Kanal replied, "That's actually not the case though... I don't think that this should have ever gone to Portland Solutions at all. Please don't put that on us." (03:55:00) Four people testified; Bianca Youngers of Bing's Bar said, "I'm begging you to not take away funding from the police. In fact, I think that we need to add to it." John Blumenauer of The Joinery said "the single most important outcome is an improved sense of safety."

$150,000 for refugee legal services passes after amendment fails

The council reallocated $150,000 from the Legal Priorities Reserve Fund to SOAR Immigration Legal Services for preventative legal work, on a 12-0 vote of the underlying ordinance introduced by Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney (District 2). (02:54:06) The funds are expected to serve about 75 individuals plus family members at roughly $2,000 per person.

Councilor Avalos moved to raise the total to $300,000, splitting SOAR's share to $100,000 and adding $100,000 for deportation-defense and rapid-response work by the Clear Clinic and Innovation Law Lab. She said the Clear Clinic "has seen a 600% increase in workload while staffing levels have remained the same" and called deportation defense "the difference between life and death." The amendment failed 5-7. (02:44:22)

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