Mayor Wheeler proposes cutting 5% of Portland's city budget across the board
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler announced budget cuts of 5% across the board, with exceptions made for emergency services like police and fire.
The mayor and city economists said the cuts announced Friday are necessary to help the soon-to-be brand-new leadership in the city as they take office next year.
The outgoing Mayor Wheeler is pushing for the cuts for Portland's 2025-26 fiscal year because experts said expenses are growing faster than revenues, meaning money is going out but not coming in as quickly as it used to.
"We're facing a challenging period with one-time federal resources expiring, increasing expenditures due to inflation and negotiated contracts, and trying to meet the needs and desires of Portlanders, which have admittedly changed substantially in recent years," Wheeler said.
During a presentation at a city work session on Tuesday, Portland city commissioners alongside Mayor Wheeler listened and asked questions when it came to an economic forecast (the entire fiscal outlook work session can be found on the City of Portland's YouTube page). The key takeaways included that key sources of money are growing slower than in the past.
The city has relied on over $700 million of one-time resources over the past five years, which has been used to fund things like homeless shelters and gun violence response. Following this meeting, it's safe to say commissioners and the new mayor should expect a challenging budget next year.
"We're going to be balancing the immediate needs of Portlanders and the immediate needs that impact our community, and we're just going to balance those against long-term sustainability for the city as an institution," said Portland City Administrator Michael Jordan.
As far as what's next, city leaders will continue working across the city administrator's office and the six service areas to try and find ways to reduce spending.
Portlanders will get their chance to give their feedback on a proposed budget in the coming months.
A new mayor and city commissioners are slated to be instated in the upcoming Nov. 5 election, which will also usher in a new form of city government. Then in December, a new economic forecast will drop. The newly installed city leadership will then announce a "trial budget," which will be open to community feedback in February.