The record · Transcript
Council Session — 2025-06-10
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Session summaryEditor-reviewed
On June 10, 2025, the Tax Supervising and Conservation Commission held its annual public budget hearing regarding the City of Portland budget. Commissioners and City Council members, including the Mayor, introduced themselves and disclosed any potential conflicts of interest, with none reported. Public testimony addressed concerns about the budget development process, limits on testimony time, transparency around council coordination, and disputed figures regarding police funding and polling data on public preferences between parks and police funding; these figures were stated inconsistently among speakers and in written materials. Additional testimony addressed public safety, homelessness, neighborhood livability, and utility rate increases. During the discussion portion, topics covered included the transition to the new governance structure, General Fund forecasts and potential future deficits, the Parks Levy, water and sewer rate increases, use of Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund dollars, coordination with Multnomah County on homelessness services, Portland Street Response staffing and expansion plans, the tree canopy program, and community engagement strategies. A motion was made and seconded regarding certification of the budget; votes occurred, with outcomes recorded in the vote ledger. The meeting was formally adjourned following confirmation that no additional public comment was submitted.
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Procedural markers in this session
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0 Ready. And it's time for.
1 Good morning, everyone. I will officially call to order the annual city of Portland budget hearing. My name is harmony cuadros. I'm the chair of the tax supervising and conservation commission. Welcome, everyone. We're going to roll with the punches today. It's a new form of government. So tsa is new to everyone today. Just as some education. The tsa is a community oversight commission established by the Oregon legislature more than 100 years ago. The commission oversees the budgets of all tcc member taxing districts and annually conducts a thorough budget review and certification process. Additionally, the tcc holds public budget hearings like this one to engage with district leadership and provide additional opportunity for public comment before the budget is adopted. I will now ask my fellow commissioners to introduce themselves and state if they have any business relationships that could be considered a conflict of interest. And we'll start with matt.
2 Good morning everyone. My name is matt donahue. It's my fourth year on the commission, serving as vice chair. And my day job is as a municipal bond banker and financial advisor. And I am in district two, and I do not have any business relationships currently with the city.
3 Okay, sorry. New technology. My name is rita moore. This is my first year on the commission. I am a former policy analyst for the state. I'm a former Portland school board member and I have no conflicts.
4 Good morning. My name is todd burton. I'm this is my second year on the tcc. I have no business relationships with the city of Portland, although I am a resident, and in my former life, I was a finance officer for a few jurisdictions in the region, including a stint with the city of Portland at the bureau of environmental services, as well as now prosper Portland. At that time, it was a Portland development commission. Thank you.
5 Hi. Good morning, alison knapp. I this is my second year on the tcc. I'm an organizational development consultant and I have no business with the city.
6 Again, I'm harmony quiroz. This is my seventh and final year with tcc. I am the chair in my in my other life, I started my career as a teacher. I still work in k to 12 science education. I live in southeast Portland and have no conflicts with the city. Also in the audience, we have our staff somewhere, allegra willhite and brittany in the back, who will join us towards the end of our end of our hearing with the city representatives. Please introduce yourselves. You can start with the mayor. Sure.
7 Good morning and welcome to the tcc. My name is keith wilson, the mayor of city of Portland.
8 Hello. Candace Avalos. She her pronouns. District one city councilor.
9 I'm Jamie Dunphy, representing district one, east side.
10 Good morning. Loretta Smith representing district one.
11 Good morning.
12 Sameer canal representing district two north and northeast Portland. Good morning, Dan Ryan. District two. It's good to see familiar faces. Thank you for your service.
13 Good morning. Thank you all for being here with us. My name is Elana pirtle-guiney. I am a councilor from district two and our council president.
14 Good morning. I am Tiffany Koyama Lane, district three, council vice president. Thank you for being here. And you all are volunteers, right? Thank you for your service.
15 Good morning. My name is angelica Morillo or Angelita murillo. I represent district three.
16 Good morning. My name is Steve Novick. I'm also representing district three. Thank you for being here. As I always say, there's no soup like tax soup.
17 Good morning. I'm Olivia Clark. I represent district four, and normally I'm on the other side of the dais presenting to you. So this is a new role for me. Thank you.
18 Good morning. My name is Mitch Green. I represent district four. Thanks for being here. Hi.
19 Eric Zimmerman, also from district four.
20 Welcome, everyone. We'd like to start with acknowledging the city's receipt of the distinguished budget presentation award for the fiscal year 2425 budget. We like to acknowledge that because that represents transparency and clarity, not only for tcc and our ability to analyze and certify the receipt of the distinguished budget presentation award for fun. This could be exciting. Ready, but also for the greater public to be able to understand the city's budget. We'll start with a round of public comment to be limited to a total of 20 minutes as time allows. Then we'll ask questions and discuss the budget with you, and we'll provide a second round of public comment as needed. At the end of our discussion and certification, we're looking forward to a robust conversation today. We only have a short time with you today, so we encourage you to speak directly and openly and keep the reading of any written comments brief to allow for a little more back and forth discussion. I will now call on any members of the public who would like to speak in the interest of time. Each person is limited to 90s of public comment, and we'll let you know when you're nearing the end of your time. We will hear public comment for up to 20 minutes right now, and then additional public comment after we've completed our questions and the certification up until the scheduled adjournment time of 11:30 a.m, anyone who is unable to testify due to time limits is encouraged to submit written testimony, will accept written public comment for up to 24 hours after the meeting. You can submit written testimony on our website at tcc Multnomah gov on the contact us page. I'm going to hand it over to the city clerk keelan to manage our public comment. She'll call names and keep the timer for us.
21 Thank you.
22 First up we have alan combs, followed by michelle miller, tiana tozer and Loretta guzman. When I call your name, please feel free to approach the testimony table.
23 Where's the tax commission? Is that there?
24 Right here. Loretta guzman is looking for parking.
25 I just arrived, thank you. Okay. All right. Good morning, commissioners. My name is alan combs. I I've been a Portland resident and taxpayer for over 25 years. Thank you for the opportunity to speak as a member of the Multnomah county, you serve an important safeguard. You're a watchdog for the taxpayers. Portland is now operating under a new form of governance. So our review and response of what's being presented to you today is more critical than ever. Please use this opportunity to call out poor practices and unacceptable behavior by our county's largest jurisdiction. While some grace should be extended to our city leaders as they prepare their first budget under new governance, certain issues still need to be addressed. First. The public process leading up to the budget was deeply flawed. It was rushed, lacked transparency and failed to provide the public with meaningful opportunities to weigh in. I believe the balanced budget you're reviewing was submitted based on a council meeting back from may 21st. I'm not entirely clear that that's why I'm here today, but that is not the actual budget. The council will adopt. Deliberations continue, and the public remains in the dark about the real options on the table. Portland voters approved charter reform to ensure proper checks and balances. A strong mayor with veto, with a tie breaking power and a 12 member council with three members from each of four districts. But remember, we now have a city council where we have six members that were elected in in districts that are 25% of the population, and some of them received less than 25% of the vote. We now have a six member bloc, the self-described progressive caucus. And that caucus has met without proper public notice. Please call out what is before you. Is a budget prepared in a flawed manner? A budget that does not reflect the will of all portlanders? Thank you.
26 Additional written testimony can be provided via email address.
27 Thank you. Michel.
28 Good morning. Councilors, commissioners. Mayor. My name is michelle miller and I am a part of a growing network of neighbors who've been organizing in district four stadium neighborhood. We have built out community driven safety and livability initiatives ourselves because when the system falls short, our community steps up. And that's what makes this budget process so frustrating. At the only full council, the public was told we'd only have two minutes to speak, and that was actually cut down to 90s. Then they gave us two hours total for public comment and then cut that off. While hundreds of portlanders were still waiting to speak in the wings district, town halls were managed with curated questions and compare that to the county, which holds at least three three hour sessions. Meanwhile, six councilors are voting under the name progressive caucus while avoiding transparency about how decisions are coordinated behind the scenes. That walks like a quorum and that talks like a quorum. We also know that councilor Avalos intends to use the budget to seize control of police bureau overtime, which directly violates the charter reform that we just voted for. Another red flag is that councilor Morillo Morillo has misrepresented her polling data. Another red flag is that councilor Kanal and Green have pushed a false claim about a $21 million police budget increase, pitting parts against safety. And this is all misinformation. As someone who has done the work door by door meeting, by meeting, I urge you to take seriously the public's growing disillusionment. If we lose faith in this process, we lose the thread of competitive government. Thank you.
29 My name is tiana tozer. I'm from district two and I'm here to express my concerns about the budget process. I'm concerned about the misinformation that councilors have been providing to the public, and I want to know whose responsibility it is to correct that misinformation. First, councilor Morillo keeps talking about, I quote, multiple surveys showed that if they had to choose, portlanders would cut police to save parks. I know of two polls. I have a master's degree in political science, which includes graduate level statistics. In more than ten years of experience monitoring government programs in war zones, I've asked repeatedly to see the poll that supports that statement. I have been repeatedly gaslit. I respectfully ask the city of Portland government to either produce the poll or issue a correction. Second, councilor Kanal and Green keep talking about a $21 million increase in the budget. I can't find any information to support this claim. As a matter of fact, the summary of the Portland police budget on page four states that the budget with the 1.9 million increase would have been a 0.3% increase, and without it is a 0.4% decrease. I once again respectfully request the information that supports this claim, because I cannot find it. As a former paralympian, a silver and bronze medalist, I offer Morillo, canal and Green this advice. If you have to cheat and lie to win, it's not winning. When you lie to us, your constituents, you're insulting our intelligence. And when it comes to democracy, you are becoming the very thing you join government to fight against. I look forward to receiving the information I've requested or seeing retractions issued.
30 Loretta.
31 Hi, my name is.
32 Loretta guzman. I'm the owner of bison coffee house. I live and work in district two. It is really discouraging running a business here where I have to deal with so much. I come down here to have my voice heard and we are always racing against the clock and speed and speed speaking that I that I don't think I'm being heard so many times. I have to cut my speech down and leave out parts of my speech. This new form of local government is supposed to be better, I don't think. I don't think so. I agree with it at this point. I'm a taxpayer and not being heard. Under ted wheeler. We always got at least two minutes and everyone got their time to speak. I've I've heard say public safety is her top priority, which which are just words. She speaks with no real value. Behind them lives are being lost. I've called 311 for psr and they were unavailable. I called 911 because my nephew was shot outside of our house and got a recording and he died. I see organizations come in groups that hate PPB, and they are they are heard because they are repeating the same thing over and over. But I am one person that comes with my real life experience and is not heard. This is serious neglect and failure by the new form of 12 councilors. It's like everything that can go wrong has gone gone wrong. Public safety is a fundamental right which we are not given.
33 Next up we have laura curry, kelly and earl riley, and ernie munch.
34 Yes.
35 Go ahead sir. Go ahead go ahead.
36 Last name.
37 That's okay. Go ahead.
38 My name is ernie munch I'm in district four and I wanted to thank you all for your service and this opportunity to speak. Last time I was here in this seat, I spoke in favor of three items. One was public safety budget that the mayor has offered. And I feel that the protection of the community is the basic the basic function of government. And I think you could probably trace this back to where you're sitting around the campfire, wondering in a cave, wondering about the saber toothed tiger that's sitting outside. I mean, we have to defend the community. The other was park maintenance, and I think that that's important because it supports portland's brand, and it's really essential to neighborhood livability, especially in the inner city. And I think the late night switch of moving money from one to the other was clever, but I think it was self-defeating. And I think you should restore it. The third one was and there's money in the budget to do to do that. The third one was maintenance of the infrastructure. I'm a transportation planner for the city of Portland and chief transportation planner. At the end of my term. And there is money that is being spent, which is not productive to maintenance. Maintenance is being starved. And if you lose the infrastructure, your bridges, your streets and whatnot, it's a it's a terrible thing. It's hard to recover from. Thank you.
39 Okay. Just checking one more time. Laura curry, kelly spar. Earl riley. Okay, we'll move on to brian orndorf. Karen shirey, angela. Todd, tom borden. I'm sorry, your name is karen. Yes. Please come. Come to the testimony table when you hear your name. And just to let you.
40 Know, laura can't.
41 Get online for some reason. Please hurry, laura currie.
42 I'll troubleshoot. Thanks.
43 I know she wants to testify, so. Good morning. My name is karen geary. I'm a resident of district three and a business owner in district four. I'm writing to express my strong opposition to any proposed cuts to our police and fire. As a concerned business owner, I believe maintaining robust funding for these services is essential for the safety, well-being and quality of life in our community. Our police and fire departments serve as the backbone of our public safety framework. Reducing funds to these critical services compromise their ability to respond effectively to emergencies, protect our neighborhoods, and maintain community. Trust the challenges our city faces from rising crime rates to emergency response times, necessitates enhanced support, not cuts. Our first responders deserve the resources they need to keep us safe. We must also prioritize investment in efforts to clean up our streets and address the issues of homelessness, criminal activity, drug dealing, and public urination and defecation. The presence of these challenges not only affects the safety of our community, but also discourages businesses from staying and investing in Portland. We need proactive solutions to create cleaner, safer streets, fostering a welcoming environment for both residents and businesses. Eyewitness during the last budget session that through several amendments, some city councilors are proposing to take the 2 million from police budget. I urge the council to reconsider this approach and instead explore the possibility of splitting those funds in half between police parks. Thank you.
44 Okay. Brian orndorf, angela todd, tom borden. Talia giardini. Robert lucas jr. Sarah thompson. Go ahead, please go ahead, go ahead.
45 Okay. Hi. My name is talia giardini. I'm a Portland native and a registered nurse. Public testimony being cut to 90s is not enough time for public opinion. The public was misled about being able to testify at the only public budget hearing. Instead, we're told there's not enough time. I regularly care for victims of gun violence, domestic violence and assault, including children. I myself am a domestic victim of domestic violence, assault and car theft. We need and want police. The progressive caucus is showing us they don't care what Portland wants or about protecting victims of violence. We were told the new charter would allow more representation, but instead, the city is in an ideological gridlock. District town halls have been effective and we have been misled and lost trust in our city council. In her recent newsletter, Avalos stated she wanted to control pbb through the ot budget. She's been open about wanting police abolition, which is ridiculous. It's a direct violation of the new charter we voted for. We do not want inexperienced, misleading and ineffective electeds running major city bureaus, especially during a budget crisis with inflation. Pbb is only getting an $800,000 increase, not 21 million. Mitch Green, you have a phd in economics, so you of all people should know you're manipulating the public Morillo your inappropriate behavior shows a lack of credibility. The city councilors I've named intentionally made the police a hot topic when this should be a non-issue, considering over three quarters of us want police. We are tired of your inability to compromise and find a rational solution. I encourage you all to support the mayor's rational rational budget, which is widely supported by the public. Thanks, talia.
46 Good morning. My name is ciara thompson and I live in district four. It's time to call a spade a spade. The push to abolish police is a socialist objective, and it's being done by a thousand cuts. Or in this case, over 100 amendments, whether labeled as increasing or reallocation or whatever. The outcome remains the same diminish public safety. The false dichotomy of parks versus police is the deceptive tactic that misleads voters into supporting policies against their own interests. Of course, we value parks, but we also need fully funded public safety bureaus, including police. Allowing lawlessness to spread only emboldens criminals and fosters fear among the working class, the working poor, and our most vulnerable. Defending and excuse me, defunding the police coupled with tax the rich policies will drive more mom and pop businesses out of the city. Deepening the city's economic boom. No city council has ever taxed their way out of a deficit. Instead, smart spending reductions and innovative revenue strategies are the path forward to the moderate city councilors. The dsa will not stop with the four seats they are currently holding. They will target your seats in future elections. I urge you to vote wisely tomorrow to protect our city's safety and economic vitality. Thank you.
47 Okay, just checking for angela todd, tom gordon. Robert lucas, suzanne bishop. And then that. Oh, wait a minute. Hang on a second. Okay. And I believe laura curry has joined us online.
48 Great. Thank you. So is this my time now?
49 Yes. Go ahead laura.
50 Thanks, karen, for bringing this to the person's attention for my time. I also am supporting the two previous speakers who are super eloquent that the police budget and the language surrounding removing funding for police is ridiculous. In a time when our city is crumbling. I'm part of stadium hood. I deal with needles, drug use, garbage, human feces, camping. Et cetera, et cetera. On the daily, I call 911. Police are dispatched as as best they can be. They usually there is not enough police to address what's going on in the neighborhood. In addition, we have a overnight women's shelter that's opening that's just been dropped into our community. And a overnight 250 person shelter that is being opened by the city. People need shelter. But what happens during the day? We don't have enough services to support everybody, not only those that are in need of the services, but those of us who are paying taxes, those of us who are residents living here. I'm not wealthy. I live in a 380 square foot studio. The outdoors is my only respite for air and walking around and being out in the world. So if it's not safe or clean, where am I supposed to go? So absolutely do not take the funding away from the police.
51 Thank you. Thank you everyone for your testimony. Your comments are entered into our public meeting record. We really appreciate additional thoughts and comments shared with us, and consider all of those things in our conversations with the city. And with that, we'll start our discussion. And I get the first question. Both a new form of government, a newly elected council, two firsts for the city, and lots more firsts I'm sure you've all experienced. We'd like to hear your perspective on how this is going, kind of in broad terms, as you work through major structural changes, what has risen to the surface in terms of what is working well with the transition, and what areas do you do you see that still need to be addressed?
52 Thank you. Thank you all for putting together these questions for us and for starting here. The transition process was pretty heavily focused on the needs of building a new administration, because they were here first, and it left many of the details about how council would operate undefined. Early on, we established our committee structure, including a governance committee, where our council created a place to address some of the specific questions that arise that you've pointed to here. And council continues to take on this work through the governance committee and through full council conversations. The work is well underway, but we are also eyes wide open that it will take 1 to 2 years of iterations to develop the final process for how council operates as it relates to the budget. The topic before us today, we saw extensive district by district engagement this year, both coordinated citywide and budget focused town halls hosted by councilors at the district and the individual councilor Level. This was a big win for portlanders. We expect to enter the 2627 budget cycle with a schedule that better aligns with council's work compared to this past year. Over the next year, committees will have the opportunity to hear presentations from bureaus about how new projects and program changes coming out of this budget are going. And through those policy committees, councilors will also be able to dive deeper into bureau budgets to ensure that we prioritize funding for programs portlanders care most about. Should we be faced with additional budget cuts next year as we expect to be?
53 Have a follow up question. I know we even limited public comment today just to provide more opportunity for this conversation, but is there also work being done to improve kind of the public engagement aspect of your work, especially around the budget?
54 I'll be frank. There are councilors who were frustrated with how our budget engagement sessions went. We are working through kinks still, but I also did a calculation as folks were testifying, and we had four sessions in districts at at least two hours each. Some ran over. That's eight hours. We had two hours of public testimony, I believe, when the mayor presented his budget proposal to council, two hours on the 21st, when we created our first cut at the budget that we presented to you all. And later today, when we reopen that budget to make additional changes around the edges, after we hear your feedback, we will have an additional two hours for public testimony. That's over 14 hours of official public testimony, plus the time in town halls that councilors set up as well.
55 Thank you. And thank you for the opportunity to participate, participate in this public hearing. I'm going to ask about the general fund. It's been in the news a little bit lately. It has significant challenges in terms of all of the city's priorities and primarily impacting now services like police, public safety, I should say, and parks. In addition, there's projected low economic growth for the for the city as well as declining population, impacting property tax revenue and other resources to the city. My question is, what do you see happening long term? You've gotten you're getting through this current upcoming, excuse me, this upcoming fiscal year. I know your work is still not done in that regard, but looking looking further ahead, what do you see would be helpful to improve the structural problems, particularly in the general fund?
56 We'll have additional councilors answering some of these questions. So, councilor Smith, I believe you're taking this one.
57 Thank you. Well, the balanced five-year general fund forecast shows a significant deficit for fiscal year 20 2526. It also shows no other deficits for the rest of the forecast. In other words, if council adopted no other ongoing expenses and both revenues and ongoing expenses grew as expected, reductions would not be needed for fiscal reductions would not be needed through fiscal year 2029 through 30. However, the margins are really slim, and if revenues don't grow quite as fast as projected, that would likely cause another year of reductions. A significant amount of the total general fund deficit is related to expiring one time expenses that began during the COVID pandemic. This will continue to be a challenge as some programs continue to be funded with one-time dollars, and future councilors may wish to continue these programs. As it stands now, revenues are expected to grow in line with ongoing expenses through fiscal year 2029 through 30.
58 If I could ask a follow up to that, if you it sounds like that you're right at the margin now to maintain this sustainability, what tools would you might consider going forward if you can't meet those margins?
59 And I'm going to let councilor Novick answer that question. Thank you.
60 Let's see. I confess I was prepared to answer a different question. What was the question again?
61 Well, if you can't meet that, it sounds like you're right at the margin to maintain general fund sustainability over the long term, or at least your five year forecast. If you can't meet that, are you starting to think ahead? What what some of the outcomes or what some of the possibilities to address that will be?
62 Well, the mayor is committed to continuing to go through the city budget and identify possibilities for consolidation and efficiencies. He's launched that that process already, but he's continuing it through the next year or so. And some of us have talked, some of us have talked about tax proposals, and none of those discussions have gone very far. But ultimately, well, and another factor is that, as the mayor says, if we are able to end unsheltered homelessness, that reduces pressure on various parts, parts of the budget. So we're we can be hopeful about various possibilities over the next couple of years, but we can't tell you at this point. Here's exactly what's going to happen, and here's the mechanisms we're going to adopt to maintain a balanced budget over the next ten years.
63 And as just another follow up. So parks is one of the challenging areas that's within the general fund. And Portland. We're very proud of our parks. Right. Beautiful city. And I think we all enjoy those parks. Some of our neighboring jurisdictions have separate levies for their parks out in the Washington county as well as, I believe, in Clackamas county. Is there any discussion about having a separate resource for parks going forward?
64 That discussion hasn't really taken place. Right now. We are focused on the parks levy, which expires next year, and we feel that it's absolutely incumbent to refer a parks levy to portlanders for approval. The levy is become an integral part of funding for parks system that portlanders call, as you say, a fundamental part of our city. Over the next three weeks, council will determine what we can ask portlanders to support in order to maintain both our outdoor parks and recreational opportunities for kids, seniors, and families. That does not mean that we're closing the door to discussions along the lines of a parks district. We simply haven't started those discussions yet.
65 Thank you.
66 Hi. Good morning again. I have the next question. So in late may, council voted to increase water and sewer rates along with a number of other fees. How do you reconcile fee increases with what we are consistently hearing is an onerous tax burden and increasingly high cost of living for city residents, with likely increases to rates and fees in the future. Do you foresee a breaking point for community members and what is your plan to address this?
67 Thank you for the question, commissioner. It's a great question and we had quite a discussion about that issue, quite a debate both in committee and full council. So the concerns that you're raising are shared by the council as well. But on the other hand, we need a balance. We need safe and well maintained infrastructure. That's an issue for the city of Portland. And the cost of continuing to delay regular maintenance on our infrastructure is really the cost of potential catastrophic failure of some of those utilities, and that cost is far higher than the increase that we approved this year. The threat of that failure. We appreciate the mayor's commitment to restructuring the services all bureaus rely on to try to do our work more efficiently and save costs for every fund in our budget. And in fact, one of those initiatives is one water, which we're pursuing. Council plans to consider ways to approach our backlog of deferred maintenance. I like to call it asset management over the course of the next year, which may relieve some of the future costs increases. The council is committed to finding cost cost savings, cost saving measures and every bureau, including our fee funded bureaus. And I would just add that we also learned that our water bureau has an excellent program to assist individuals who cannot afford their utility bills, and we'd like to see that replicated in the other utility bureaus as well. Thank you for the question.
68 Just to follow up. So is there a is there a short or long term forecast for those water rates and electricity rates? Right. We've seen electricity double since 2021. I think families and especially those families on the on the margins are vulnerable populations. But even those families who can't access necessarily the high need rate decreases or the right like there's we can you can access support for your utility bills if you're below this wage. But there's a whole section of people for which these increases are starting to become untenable and can't access those tools. Is there a forecast that portlanders can see that how how, how, how long are we going to see increases? What's that experience going to be for residents of the city?
69 Thank you. Yes, there is a forecast for those increases over time. They are gradual, they're small. And I appreciate the sensitivity, particularly to middle income people. I think that you're discussing, but like I said earlier, we do have a very robust program for people who cannot afford their utilities. That's something we can also look at expanding if necessary.
70 Thank you.
71 Go ahead matt.
72 So since excuse me, the inception of the clean energy surcharge, there's been policy changes made by councils. There's been much public discussion about the use of these funds, as well as the interest earned on the funds that are held by the city and used to plug holes and, and general fund programs. So in this budget, we again see the use of the PCEF funds and bureaus across the city. Last week, mayor and governor proposed to use PCEF funds to support conversion of office buildings, residences. What sort of stakeholder input did you use to inform these decisions, and how are you ensuring that the use of these funds are within the boundaries of what voters approved?
73 Okay, thank you, commissioner Donahue. I'll take that one. First, the development of the inaugural climate investment plan, cip, which included funding for several city bureaus and strategic program 14, was the result of a nine month process involving extensive community engagement. That plan was recommended by the PCEF committee and adopted by city council in September of 2023. And I want to say, I really applaud commissioner Rubio for her diplomacy in that effort. When it was amended in December of 2024, we started with feedback from that original engagement process to inform updates. I know I met with the committee several times during that period of time to get updates from them. The PCEF committee subsequently discussed and recommended the amendments in public meetings, which included public comment. The previous council also held public hearing on the amendment. Cip. Prior to the adoption. The amended cip includes a transparent outline of expected bureau allocations over a five year plan. The fiscal year 2526 bureau allocations are consistent with those outlined in the amended cip. You asked about the mayor's recent announcement about office to residential conversions. For more details on how the mayor's proposal is within seaport 14, we suggest you reach out to his office. Hi, mayor. As as it is an outside the scope of the 2526 budget process.
74 So I did look at the website for the PCEF and it actually is really good. So kudos. Kudos on that. If people have more questions about that.
75 Staff has been great.
76 So. Going forward, what projections are you seeing for the PCEF. How might these dollars be affected by a potential recession or other economic factors such as tariffs? If we do see a downturn in the economy in Portland and the dollars don't materialize as anticipated, are there backup plans for the bureaus that are receiving those funds? And what are what would you prioritize prioritize in that situation?
77 Well, as you said, commissioner Donahue, the economic situation, especially regarding the tariffs and potential for recession, is certainly a concern, but could play out in a number of ways. Even a small, predictable tariff on a wide range of goods would have a conflicting impacts for clean energy surcharge sources revenue, as consumers would likely pay higher prices, increasing revenue, but also buy less, which would then decrease revenue. The city economists released a memo in April on how the clean energy surcharge could potentially be impacted, as well as a five year forecast. We are still in a period of great economic uncertainty and I'm sure those will be updated frequently. Since the memo focuses solely on revenues, it should also be noted that the increase in prices caused by the tariffs makes it so that the revenue won't purchase as much as it was as as much, even if it is impacted. If revenues decline, we may need to adjust allocations within the current five year climate investment plan. The cip, which runs through June of 2029. Any proposed amendments adjustment sorry would be initiated through the committee process and reflected and reflect a reassessment of program priorities. What? We don't have a predetermined order of cuts. We would prioritize maintaining funding for programs with the highest impact on climate impacts and community benefits, consistent with the intent of pcp. I just want to add this one thing that there was actually an article this morning that talked about the cooling units that went out across the city. That was a response in real time to the fact that this isn't planning for something in the future. Those of us on the former council did experience the heat dome doom dome, just like everyone else did, and it was really it was really important to respond. And so that was a good example of using the infrastructure of those that are ready to get things done quickly. They've met their marks. We just saw really good outcomes in today's story. And so that's the type of, I would say nimbleness that also has shown up in PCEF. And I'm proud of that.
78 And you may not know these numbers off the top of your head. So we can follow up with the city staff afterwards. But I'm curious. There's the cip. So kind of the long term plan for the PCEF funds. And we've seen that spending in lots of our districts. We were at Multnomah education service district. Right. They they're adding some to their construction. There's piece of funds there. What is what percent is kind of available for these nimble, reactive responses to allow that money. And what is more generally for grants or for kind of that long term plan?
79 First of all, thanks for noticing the engagement with other entities in this time of crisis. I'm going to dial a friend. Hi, donnie. Can you come up and maybe answer that question with more clarity than I could? Donnie olivares, dca of economic development. Yeah.
80 Thank you. Councilor commissioners. Daniel, for the record. So if I understand your question correctly, you're asking for sort of the availability of funds that are in the cip that aren't necessarily programed. Is that accurate? Thanks for the question. I'd love to get the specifics back to you, and we'll work on that immediately. But broadly speaking, the cip is made up of 37 strategic initiatives along with the existing community grant program. So within each of those strategic initiatives, some of the programs are more defined. It's more finite directives. So for example, there's a strategic initiative that's since $5 million to PBOT in partnership with parks to plant trees along 82nd avenue. That's a specific location, specific bureaus with a target. There's other initiatives like our federal match initiative, which set aside $20 million tbd, but would allow it to be considered for all the different types of values and objectives that if there's opportunities to match federal grants, that 20 million is available. So in that particular case, the money isn't as prescriptive, but it's within a category. And then within the community grants, those are open to the ideations, the hopes, the skills and experience of our community groups. So those dollars are funded based on the criteria of the grant program at the, you know, the imagination of our community. So to get you the specific numbers, we can do that. But just think about the strategic initiatives as the place where we sort of target for either contracts or bureaus or partners like the school districts to spend. And the grants are more open ended to community groups.
81 That's helpful. Thank you.
82 Thank you.
83 Okay, I have the next question. Switching gears a little bit, portland's had a long formal cooperative, I guess long maybe in a perspective, has a formal cooperative agreement with Multnomah county regarding shared initiatives to address homelessness, first through the county's joint office of homeless services and now through the homeless services division. Can you explain how the Portland solutions program intersects with hsd and more generally, the current status of the collaboration with the county?
84 Thank you. I will go ahead and take that question. Portland and Multnomah county have juggled intersecting services for decades. Portland solutions collaborates every day with Multnomah county through various staff and programs. The most recent intergovernmental agreement, or iga, between the two jurisdictions, created the homelessness response system, a collaborative effort to create an integrated homelessness system that includes city and county programs, but also health systems, carceral systems, nonprofit and private entities. The quarterly meetings the new iga put in place between the council and commission are allowing us to identify differences, areas of overlaps and areas needing more coordination, and we will continue to work toward increased coordination.
85 I have a follow up.
86 And we asked a similar question to the county, and we've talked to metro, too. So homelessness is obviously a profoundly complicated issue. It continues to dominate the policy agenda in the entire region, despite years of kind of concerted efforts and lots of money being invested in the issue. Can can you talk to us a little bit about how the city's balancing the need to respond to kind of the immediate humanitarian crisis through short term emergency shelter, with the need to address the longer term crisis of housing affordability and livability in the city? And what's kind of the theory of change guiding the city's actions on homelessness?
87 Thank you. So traditionally, the city has managed safety and public space maintenance issues, with the county and homeless services department being responsible for social and health services as well as shelter in most. In more recent years, the city has also invested in shelters, specifically adult shelters, in order to create more meaningful opportunities to move unsheltered people off of the streets and connect them to services and housing. The city is making a pivot away from the repetitive process of moving unsheltered people and cleaning up around them, toward using city resources to instead move people inside to help them address root causes. There is a movement toward the creation of a unified housing plan that would enable the city to unify all of its resources and strategies into a singular plan with shared objectives. This would better enable the city to more efficiently and effectively address the root causes of homelessness. The unified housing strategy would incorporate the current work plan, which addresses resource and structural constraints through multiple strategies, including undertaking a study of alternative financing and ownership models and social housing models. Pursuant to city council resolution three 7703, seeking new resources for affordable housing and preservation, including but not limited to, tif dollars or tax increment financing dollars. Pursuing acquisition and other cost containment strategies. Exploring participation in in a large cities acquisition fund model that is specifically designed to align with shelter exits, and waiving system development charges for 5000 new homes to be built in the next 36 months.
88 Thank you. What's the relationship to the county? So this sounds like a Portland centric response, which is great. And we like the pragmatic. It's good to hear about the pragmatic and ever evolving solutions to this complex issue. Can you talk a little bit more about, like how these the developments of these overlap with or intersect with what the county and we know metro kind of channels a lot of the dollars, but what in particular with the county.
89 Can you say one more time?
90 Yeah. Just so the development of these. Right. We talked to the county a few weeks ago, had a similar conversation about the new dashboard and the data evaluation tools that they're putting in place. And what are the what are the actions that are kind of moving the needle on homelessness and, and where the lack of funding is right to provide, let's say, rent assistance or things like that. So I'm curious kind of what's the overlap or what's the shared knowledge happening between the city and the county to kind of advance initiatives that we know will work?
91 Gotcha. Yeah, I'm happy to take that on. I think ultimately, you know, as I stated in the answer, we are really committed to solving the problem together. And we understand as two government entities that we have to. And so I think a lot of the movement that you're seeing around the dashboard, increasing the kind of data that we're receiving so that we can make better decisions. Obviously, the renegotiation of the iga that happened last year that we're currently in, all of these things are ways that we are trying to show our collaboration with the county and understanding that we are all in difficult budget crunches as well. We're going to have to make some tough calls in the coming years, but I think ultimately we have committed to this relationship not just through the iga, but also we have a lot of new leadership in the city and the county, which I also think makes a big difference in resetting our relationship with each other. And so I think, you know, when I talked about the unified housing strategy, I'm the chair of the homelessness and housing committee, and part of my work with my committee is to ensure that the city understands what our role is, what is our capacity, what we feel is our responsibility, and therefore we can come to the table with other partners, ready to say where the city is and see where the county, where metro, where the state can fill in those other gaps. Because ultimately we have to solve the problem together.
92 That's helpful. Thank you. One other follow up, can you just give us an update on kind of the latest in the sheltering program and the current sheltering program outcomes? In general terms, we don't need necessarily specifics. And can you share what what the current goals are for this sheltering program specifically? And if in general, you're meeting them?
93 Mr. Mayor, I see you and the counselor chatting. Do you want to jump in here? Since you've been coordinating a lot of the expansion in this area?
94 Thank you, council president. Thank you for your answer, councilor Avalos. Well said. Our current strategy is to maintain our existing safe rest village and task sites, and that has been really our primary focus in this budget. In addition, we've been able to gain funding from external sources as well as funding that we had to carry over and so on through Portland solutions. But the current goal is to add 1500 overnight shelter beds, 24 over seven beds, recovery beds, whatever that cost equation will allow us to bring on quickly. But that goal is 1500, with support from the county for a promised 1000 that they've provided through their homes response action plan. And then we've also asked private enterprises, through public private partnerships to bring 500 beds on, and we're well on our way in each one of those three individual pillars. And the goal, as councilor Avalos, is, is to really stop the cycle of just moving people from one block to the other, where it's really not helping our community out, and to really welcome them inside so we can help them on their road to housing.
95 Thank you.
96 Rita, you've got the next one.
97 Portland street response has had an uncertain future since its establishment in 2019. So far, it's been housed in the fire department, the police bureau and the community safety division. There has very recently been some discussion of making psr a co-equal, independent public safety agency. Psr has also had considerable fluctuations in budget and staffing. The mayor's budget proposal included funding to add 14 staff positions, with an eye to expanding psr into a 24 over seven service. Can you give us a status update on psr and plans for its future?
98 Yes. Thank you for the question. Upon its separation from Portland fire and rescue, Portland street response was and remains a part of the community safety division, which is within the office of the deputy city administrator for the public safety service area. Psr has not been a part of the Portland police bureau in the Portland street response has grown in several ways, including filling 12 of its 16 vacant positions, adding services to include client shuttling and increased access to indoor spaces, policy development, and creating paths to leadership for Portland street response staff. These efforts have focused on creating strong foundations and a sustainable path forward. For this program, psr has a staffing plan to reach 24 over seven operations citywide over two fiscal years. The 14 positions included in the mayor's proposed budget will help towards that goal. With these positions, psr will be able to fully staff the current two shifts, which covers 8 a.m. To 10 p.m. And would likely allow it to add a third shift that would extend service hours from 6 a.m. To 11 p.m. Additionally, psr and ccsd leadership ad and council are working with Multnomah county, the Oregon health authority, and many others to remove barriers to medicaid billing for eligible services that psr provides, and these efforts are both a high priority and part of pursuing all avenues for additional funding and partnerships. In short, psr has strong support from mayor, city council and the public safety service area as a whole, and it's a valued and integral part of the city's public safety response system.
99 Can I have a follow up? During the budget discussions at the council town halls? You know, the general discussion in the community? I think we're hearing two competing conceptualizations of public safety. One is a more traditional, relatively narrow definition, limited to law enforcement and first responders, including fire. A second view approaches public safety from a broader perspective, explicitly defining a range of a range of elements like public spaces, housing availability, and economic development as crime prevention strategies. How are these different approaches reflected in the budget, and how can they be reconciled going forward? In an era of highly constrained resources?
100 I think you've asked the question. That is the question for a lot of our budget conversations later today and tomorrow and in the past, I think. Both are true. And finding the appropriate amount for each part of that is the ultimate challenge. And when there's been perceived imbalances or deficiencies in the funding, I think from each step of the process. So not just at the council level, but going from the current appropriation levels to the city administrator's proposal to the mayor's proposal, each step has, in their own view, tried to correct that and tried to make sure that there's appropriate levels for everything. Fundamentally, there is a part of this, and I think the strategic plan from the public safety service area talks about prevention as well as response, as well as ultimately that breadth being a both and sort of answer. Beyond that, I think stay tuned for the conversations that are coming over the next. I guess 48 hours is the best way I can answer that at this moment.
101 Can I just I'm going to I'm going to push a little. That's my last year. So I'm just going to ask all my questions. The I think there's I think that's the answer we expected. Right. Like that. Both are important. And there have to be investments in both sides, which I think is true. I think the question is really like into in terms of public perception. Right. We heard a lot of public testimony today about kind of one side of public safety. But don't don't forget the other. Don't forget the parks. And I think there that's kind of the, the challenging element, I think for us as, as members of the public, what how do you kind of engage with the public around that perception of what the budget says about Portland and what the like, what the who the budget is for and what it means for people living in Portland, kind of how how are you going to engage further? I think we'll hear the discussion, certainly, in the folks that show up and are and are paying attention, which has been more than ever, I think, this year. What's what's kind of that plan going forward to engage with the public and communicate, you know, what this budget means to Portland?
102 Yeah. So first, I think you said this is your seventh year, so thank you for your service for that long. That's impressive. Secondly, I think it's hard to be any one of us answering that question because I think with 13 of us up here, you'll get 13 different views with a lot of overlap, but but certainly not 100% overlap in terms of communication. The council president talked about a lot of the community engagement that's been done as an institution of council. Individual councilors are doing town halls as well. I have one tonight, for example, and I think having the conversation continue to reflect not only the new form of government and the breadth of 12 councilors, but also the fact that we're district councilors and each of us is doing more engagement. I think the aggregate level of engagement from the city council past to present, partially because of that numerical increase, we're astronomically more in the first six months, I think, than in previous forms of government, in terms of being out in community, being out in district and talking and listening to folks. I've gone and met with several of the people that testified today as well, whether they have the same or different views. So I think it's incumbent upon us and also upon the communications team at the city to convey the things that we do agree on and then us as individuals to talk to our constituencies. I'll add that your question about who the budget is for it is it is 100% a internal document to guide the spending of money. It is also an external statement of our values and our relative priorities. There's no way around that. That is also a both and. And yeah.
103 Ask a follow up. So I wanted to ask you about Portland street response as the intervention as opposed to police or fire. And if you were to give that an evaluation, now that it's been in place for how many years has Portland street.
104 Started as a pilot in 21.
105 Yeah. So what's your what's your outlook? How successful or unsuccessful as a program been? The second part is we talked with the county last week about their deflection center. And right now it's really restricted relationship with the Portland police. But do you see Portland street response also being involved with some of the county efforts on deflection?
106 I'll start with the first part and I might phone a friend on the second part. You know, we haven't had a an evaluation in the last several months for Portland street response. We used to go through evaluations through Portland state university, and those were showing very strong success in building a program. I think everybody would like to see psr stop evolving and be evolved to its final form at some point, and that is a priority for this council. Speaking personally, I think I've seen enough specific examples with psr to know its successes. I think also the work that the mayor and the executive branch have done to expand its powers and its jurisdiction is going to be very effective. And I should note that much of that has been supported by police as well. This is not an adversarial conversation on the administrative side with relation to the deflection center. I'm not sure. Council president, should we?
107 I'd like to speak to that. Thank you. Okay.
108 Councilor zimmermann, go right ahead. And then we do have our dca here if we'd like to turn to him as well.
109 I think I got it even better than he does. So deflection center was designed at the county to be a place where any community partner can bring a person who is in need of sobering services, deflection services. So as they move from deflection, which is purely designed for people who are not intoxicated and to avoid a legal course of action, that's deflection. The sobering center has been very deliberate in its planning at the county table, which has a number of city representatives at it, that whether it be a family member, a police, a psr or a future county service that we used to have in this community called cheers and is similar to cahoots in other communities, that that would also be a major drop off apparatus, sobering center. As a county is designing, it is not designed to be only one group or another is allowed to bring folks. It should be open to anybody who senses that it is safer for a person intoxicated from drugs or alcohol can go there and go through that sobering period in a safer place than the curb. And that's so if at a future time, any agency wants to take somebody there within Multnomah county, and I would expect city services as well.
110 Can I ask a follow up on psr? So based on what you said about this will be quick. I think the plans for psr future, it sounds like 24 seven is not probably in the cards for the foreseeable future. Is that fair?
111 I'm going to invite dca up if you'd like to add anything on this. My understanding is that it is. It is a conversation around the 2627 budget cycle. So in a year we would be talking about approving a or adopting a budget that would allow for 24 over seven service, and that this budget makes a big step. I would say more than halfway to that point in terms of the budget commitment, and I'll defer to dca for more on that.
112 Yeah. Thank you. For the record, I'm bob cozzie interim deputy city administrator for the public safety service area. I'm still getting used to saying that, you know, my perspective coming from boec as the boec director, we dispatch Portland street response. And one thing that I can say, as far as the success of the program, I believe it's very successful. I think it's limited right now. And the reason I say that is about 2% of the dispatch workload from the 911 center is attributed to Portland street response. I believe that can be quite a bit higher with more units. The intent is certainly to be a 24 over seven operation. And in my role as the interim dca, I want to see that moving forward. I'd also like to recognize that a number of years ago, boec took steps to create a special dispatch position specific for Portland street response. And by doing that, that means when psr has whatever the span of control number would be, you know, 6 or 7 units out at the very same time, we would have a dedicated dispatcher dispatching those folks. We also do have some preliminary plans to create a Portland street response direct telephone number to our dispatch center. So people recognize, you know, this is not a 911 emergency. I don't need to call 911 necessarily for that, but we're going to have a number for Portland street response that's answered within the, you know, the bureau of emergency communications ecosystem.
113 So I'm kind of hearing that the low dispatch rate is attributed maybe partly to availability of Portland street response or the timing of that, that request. Or alternatively, it might not it might be a training issue of diagnosing the request and realizing that Portland street street response would be the more more appropriate dispatch.
114 I wouldn't necessarily see it as a training issue because we do have good protocols in place already. But really, is the bandwidth of Portland street response at any given time?
115 Thank you.
116 Are we seeing as deflection kind of amp rolls up across the system. Are we seeing kind of more of a more of that Portland street response approach to write if Portland street response 8 a.m. To 10 p.m, but deflection is open 24 hours. Certainly the police now kind of have more of a or can have more of a role in kind of the not just arrest, not just citation, but rather that engagement with portlanders who are in crisis for deflection or other services. Are we seeing kind of that balance start to, to expand beyond just Portland? Street response is kind of the compassionate response, at least I think that's the perspective into our into our police force as well.
117 You know, the more units we have for Portland street response, the more often they will be used. And that would allow police to respond to calls that perhaps are more appropriate for police response. When we don't have psr units on the street, we need to dispatch somebody. And in those cases then police would have to go. But I can say that police are are trained and more and more training every year to really understand how to navigate those difficult circumstances and try to de-escalate situations as much as possible.
118 Good.
119 I'm sure you looked at other models in other communities having the same kind of services as Portland street response, and I assume it's funded through the general fund. Have you looked at funding models these other cities have used? Have they've gone outside of sort of the traditional property tax revenue and general fund resources to help support these and expand the bandwidth of the program?
120 Yeah. You know, I am not even officially in the dcr role yet, so I haven't been able to dive into that. But I do know that there's been conversations about trying to get alternate funding for the program.
121 And I'll just add that we did discuss a little bit, but medicaid funding is a for the eligible portion of the services is a current pursuit.
122 Channel.
123 I'm sorry, we have.
124 A little time.
125 So I'm going to go for it. So now that psr is kind of up and running and you've got, you know, some serious capacity, can you quantify what kind of impact that has had on the availability of police response?
126 Yeah, I appreciate that question. When I look at the data, monthly data and you can review this as well. It's on Portland 911 website and it shows the call volume that the 911 center receives and the dispatched calls for service. And there's a bar graph that I'm envisioning right now in my mind that shows the, you know, purple for medical calls, red for fire calls, blue for police calls. And there's a little sliver on there that is the 2% I mentioned earlier, Portland street response and that's Green. Now, you could argue that before psr was in place, probably every single one of those, the 2% of those calls would have gone to police because they're typically someone that were doing a welfare check on or someone who may be, you know, just down, not checked, you know, someone who the community is concerned about. And police would be responding. So I don't have the exact numbers, but it is 2% of the overall workload for the bureau of emergency communications in terms of dispatch. But it would be a chunk of police calls.
127 I'd also note that there's a pretty significant increase in this budget for Portland street response. And we have gone from a pilot program to a program we decided we want to keep. That was still very, very small. And this will be, I think, the first jump that we have really seen in the program. So some of these questions are hard to answer right now, because when you don't have a lot of units to dispatch, you don't get that that critical mass of being able to get to things quickly, get them dealt with quickly and move on to the next one. You're really constantly playing catch up. And these are questions that I, I suspect we will have much clearer answers to next year after we make the investments that are planned in this budget.
128 Okay, I'm going to shift us to talk about trees. So last year we spoke with the council then about the equitable tree canopy program. And you know, as we're seeing hotter summers, we're on record to have another hot summer. We're seeing and hearing reports of newly planted trees dying. So what changes have you made to ensure something like this won't happen again? And essentially this question is about, you know, not burdening residents with something that was intended to benefit them and improve their quality of life and so on in their communities. So just curious as to, you know, what changes moving forward are you looking at for this program?
129 Thank you. I get to answer that one. And this is actually something that my neighbors in east Portland have brought up repeatedly. A lot of the stories that we heard in the media in the last couple of years were happening in east Portland, and for many, it was described as insult to injury. But since 2018, data has consistently shown consistently high survival for the nearly 17,000 trees planted or distributed through city programs, about 96%. But we've also seen concerning cases of new trees dying for lack of proper care. Contractor understanding and compliance is essential. Street tree planting contracts include a three year warranty. Any tree that does not survive is replaced at the contractor's expense, and we are learning and improving as we go, and recent changes include enhanced contractor training focused on early season planning and logistics for watering and care. Earlier and more coordinated water scheduling watering schedules beginning in may, improved oversight and communication between Portland parks and recs urban forestry office and the contractors during the establishment period, and increasing contractor capacity starting this fall for new contractors will be joining our planting and establishment efforts.
130 Thanks. And just as a follow up, it sounds like, you know, in terms of just how you're handling, like the maintenance situation, right, with contractors, we understand there was also an intent to develop a comprehensive sheet care and maintenance program. And you've talked about how that might shift care from property owners to the city or to contractors like one. I'm wondering in terms of like when a, when a resident has an issue, you know, how they communicate with contractors or where is that line of communication? And then the other one is around funding. And if you've identified long term funding to maintain the trees.
131 Yeah, I'm going to answer what I have written here, because I don't think it's fully comprehensive. And I might need to invite a friend up, but there are plans to shift that responsibility from private property owners to the city and the development of new the new service, including a pilot program to help inform the larger program, which is underway. Portland clean energy community benefit funds is the initial and anticipated ongoing funding source.
132 Yeah, and I think the second part of my question, which yet was not, was not in the in the written comments, was about communication, right? You talked about that contractor relationship. And so just curious, when residents do have an issue, like who do they communicate with? Do they communicate with the city? Do they have a relationship with like, what is that line of communication to make sure their problems are?
133 Absolutely. And in general, the city is moving towards the 311 system as our front door for answers about how the city works. Historically, we've had 1000 different phone numbers that people had to call three one. One really is becoming the place where folks can call and get routed to the right answer.
134 Thank you.
135 You want to ask the last question, todd?
136 I wasn't sure if we had enough time, so.
137 I think we're okay.
138 We're kind of closing. Going full circle now. Council president really opened with the discussion of the creating this budget for the first time with this new governance structure. And certainly we understand it's a it's a evolving process. But and we've heard a lot of testimony in that regard. But if you were to look kind of going forward and we'll be back next year to ask you these questions, Portland street response, a budget process, other things, if can you maybe talk about some of the processes and timelines that worked well in your budget process, and what could be improved as you move forward?
139 And I'm actually going to let my vice president close this out to bring us full circle from my opening.
140 Great.
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141 So the recent major changes in our governance and leadership at the city has provided an opportunity to reimagine community engagement in general and around the city's budget, including identifying community priorities, shaping budget processes, informing final budget funding decisions, and assessment of service outcomes and metrics for the fy 2025 2026 budget development the budget process, the budget development process, and the city increased opportunities for input from the community at multiple points during the budget process and via multiple pathways as well. Was it perfect? No. Do we have more of a sense of the questions we need to be asking? I believe so we received over 4000 public comments through a combination of online comment form, direct public communications and comments at four different community listening sessions, one in each of the city's four new districts. As I heard shared earlier, almost all if not all councilors up here, I've seen them providing opportunities for constituents to have direct conversations and give their feedback also through constituent coffees, through district focus sessions. I know the district three councilors and I, we set up three additional listening sessions in our district. The city budget office prepared a preliminary budget, 101 information session and provided direct presentations to the community that we attended. To the extent that resources allowed, the chief financial officer and the city budget office will continue to improve those materials and conversations, and will support continued evolution of the city budget process for the next budget and beyond. City councilors engaged constituents individually, as I shared through town halls and other methods, and we anticipate that the budget calendar for next year, at that one, we will be it will be discussed and available sooner this time, hopefully in the fall of 2025. And we've already been having discussions about ways to make the process more clear and engagement more accessible. I personally can share I do a constituent coffee every month, and I'm hearing constituents say, I feel like I have more access to my counselor, that I can show up to a coffee and have a conversation that I'm hearing back. And I think we need to keep having these conversations about how we're utilizing our neighborhood coalitions. I've heard talk about the need to really be thinking about what's the strategy of engagement that's happening on the executive side and on the legislative side to make sure that it's coordinated, but also separate. Make sure that that we're open and we're also ready to come up with a unified strategic plan for the different services that are provided under communications, engagement, sustainability, equity work. I believe this fits in with that. And I'll also say, having sat at at the different meetings, there were times where I noticed we had some of the same people testifying at every meeting, which was fine, but I also took note of that. And so I think while we're trying strategies that have been tried and we know about them, I also believe we need to be open to new ones. I decided to, with my own team, do some some door knocking that usually electeds do when they're candidates around my district and take some data and, and really just hit doors that people you know who none of them. Maybe one had been to a budget listening session and asked some of those same questions that we're asking. So I know that all of my colleagues are really interested in connecting with constituents, and I'm excited to hear about next steps that we can all do together.
142 Thank you. I know we come in on this process, and kind of an awkward point, the approval and then the adoption, especially this year, I expect there's, you know, big changes. Although you did say around the margins, I think there was a comment and I know we're, you know, beholden to some statutory requirements about tcc and its role. So I hope in the going forward, as we're all figuring this out together, we can work together to make the process smoother, as transparent and as engaged as possible. So thank you.
143 Thank you for that comment. And I think as we plan out our our schedule for next year, we certainly will be thinking about how we put together the different benchmarks on our timeline to best engage with you all.
144 Okay, with that, I'm going to close our discussion. I really want to thank everyone today for joining. For the first time. It we consider it certainly a great opportunity for us to engage with you. But just as members of the public, right, we in many ways consider ourselves the public comment you have to answer at the at the moment. And hopefully our representative of the general public and the comments that you're receiving as a whole. We also just appreciate your transparency, your thoughtfulness, and your willingness to engage with us on all of these topics. And I think it's just an important moment, kind of in the budget cycle, to allow additional public comment and to have, you know, a community conversation around how taxpayer dollars are spent. So with that, we have a little bit of business to do. I will close the hearing and open a regular business meeting of the sec commissioners. Do you have any additional comments on the budget? Okay. Can I ask our staff to join us at the table? Allegra, can you please share the staff recommendations for the certification letter?
145 Yes. Allegra willhite, executive director for sec chair. First, I'd like to give a public thank you to the city staff, budget and finance staff, all other staff for their partnership, not only through the budget process but throughout the entire year, their diligence to ensuring local budget law compliance is clear, and their dedication to providing exceptional service to the city and the community as well. So it is a pleasure to work with them. We as staff found the budget estimates to be reasonable for the purposes stated and in compliance with budget law. Staff suggest no recommendations or objections to the fiscal year 2526 approved budget.
146 Thank you. Commission. May I have a motion authorizing the commission to sign the certification letter as recommended, with no recommendations or objections.
147 So moved.
148 Second.
149 All in favor, please say I. . I. The city of Portland budget is so certified by allegra. Follows up very shortly with your staff to provide the certification letter to package all of your things before budget adoption. I do want to check with the county clerk if we have any folks that have since joined or rejoined for public comment. Nope. Okay, well then I will officially adjourn today. Thank you again, everyone, for joining us this morning.
150 Thank you.