PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Portland City Council, acting as the Portland Budget Committee, unanimously approved an $8.2 billion budget for the 2024-2025 Fiscal Year on May 15, as required by state budget law.
The budget will serve as the financial foundation of the city’s new form of government, which Portland voters agreed will go into effect on January 1, 2025. Instead of a single board of commissioners, the City of Portland will have 12 council members representing four districts in pairs of three. The city will be overseen by the mayor and the newly created city manager position.
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The city council discussed the budget with Interim Budget Director Ruth Levine, who was appointed last week after Tim Grewe abruptly resigned from the position, as reported by Willamette Week. When asked if the city can expect changes in how the general fund is distributed between the city’s various bureaus in the coming months, Levine said that it’s unclear at this time if the city has allocated its funding adequately.
“For the sake of the integrity of the process, I hope that our projections were very accurate and that no adjustments are needed,” Levine said. “But in the case that there [is] significant discrepancy, we’ll come back and tell you … essentially, ‘Bureau A’ got more than maybe they needed, and ‘Bureau B’ got less than maybe they needed.”
The budget for the 2024-2024 Fiscal Year budget puts an added emphasis on “public safety.” Three years ago, the Portland Police Bureau had a budget of $230 million. The now-approved budget gives PPB $295 million for the upcoming fiscal year.
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While presenting a proposed form of the budget on May 2, Mayor Ted Wheeler recalled the council’s accomplishments during his two terms as mayor and discussed the outlook for the city as it transitions to a new form of government.
“I am proud of the progress that we’ve made standing up successful programming to address critical issues and needs in our community,” Wheeler said. “We’ve continued to keep public safety front and center. We’ve continued our outreach to those struggling on our streets. And we’ve continued to uplift our small businesses, our large businesses, and community events. All the while, we are full steam ahead on our government transition and we’ve successfully navigated an incredibly difficult fiscal year as a team. It has been an honor to serve this community and produce a budget that funds thoughtful and effective solutions and stabilizes city services for the next group of elected officials and their staff.”