The record · Public money
Voter-approved taxes
What voters were promised, what's been collected, what's been spent, and what's been delivered — from official budget documents and program reports, updated quarterly.
Connect the dots
Where your taxes flow
Pick an income level, whether you own or rent, and your district. The diagram applies the programs' published rate schedules (each linked below) to that income — arithmetic on official numbers, an estimate for orientation, not tax advice. Ribbons from you are sized by dollars; pale ribbons show money that reaches a program without being billed to you.
Selections here are counted anonymously — one counter per option, never combined, no identifiers — so the editor can see who this tool serves. Do Not Track is honored.
your dollars now · passed change, takes effect on the date shown · not billed to you
Your councilors — the people who decide
Each district elects three councilors. Program referrals, budgets, and renewals run through their votes — follow each name to their recorded voting history, or email them directly.
Proposed — before the Council now, not yet passed
Money measures on the City's current-and-upcoming list, classified automatically by the same rules as the fiscal ledger. Their amounts and effects come from each measure's own text only if adopted — nothing here changes the diagram unless it passes.
- budget Follow-up on FY 2025–26 Morillo 11 Budget Note: Transparency and Information Access Framework meeting 2026-07-15 official record
- budget Adopt a Supplemental Budget for FY 2026-27 to reduce potential risks to City services meeting 2026-07-22 official record
- fee Amend Partial and Full Exemptions of System Development Charges for Affordable Housing Developments Code to temporarily remove income requirements for homeownership units (amend Code Section 30.01.095) meeting 2026-07-23 official record
- fee Amend Vehicles and Traffic Code to clarify applicability of ride fees and establish a Drivers’ Resource Center for Transportation Network Company drivers (amend Code Sections 16.40.030 and 16.40.240) meeting 2026-07-23 official record
- fee Adopt District Property Management License Code to create Parkrose Forward Enhanced Services District and establish property management license fees and district boundaries (add Code Sections 6.06.400 through 6.06.450) unscheduled official record
Rate schedules, verbatim from the administering governments (as of 2026-07-21): schedule 1 · schedule 2 · schedule 3 · schedule 4 · schedule 5 · schedule 6 · schedule 7 PFA is a Multnomah County tax; SHS is a Metro tax (its published base threshold is inflation-adjusted upward starting tax year 2026, so the actual amount may be slightly lower); the parks levy is a City property tax billed to property owners; the Arts Tax is a flat City tax with a poverty-level exemption; PCEF is a surcharge on large retailers, never billed to individuals.
The record · Where it actually goes
Collected vs. actually used
Collection is half the ledger. This panel puts each program's own published spending next to its collections — deltas are computed only between same-period figures, and where a program doesn't publish its use side in machine-readable form, that gap is stated rather than papered over.
Parks Levy — FY2024-25
FY2024-25 spending exceeded that year's collections by $12,590,000.
Preschool for All — collected but not yet budgeted
Collections ran $213,000,000 over budget across FY23-FY25 , and the fund earned $20,000,000 in interest . The county's own report discusses this surplus alongside the program's expansion risks.
Coverage gaps — stated, not hidden
- Supportive Housing Services: $335,136,020 collected (FY2023-24) — Metro's spending detail sits in report prose our pipeline flagged after a wording change; the use side is not yet captured here. source
- Clean Energy Fund: $1,600,000,000 committed under the CIP-2024 Climate Investment Plan — per-project disbursements are published only behind a Power BI dashboard, which we flag rather than scrape. source
- Arts Tax: $2,805,000 granted to 79 organizations (FY2025-26) ; $135,000,000 generated since 2012 . source
Preschool for All
In plain terms
Preschool for All is a Multnomah County program that pays for free preschool, funded by a personal income tax on higher earners. The tax uses marginal brackets, meaning each rate applies only to income above a set threshold: currently 1.5 percent on the first bracket and 3.0 percent cumulatively on the higher bracket. Effective January 1, 2027, those rates rise to 2.3 percent and 3.8 percent. As of November 2024 the program served about 2,000 children across 122 preschool sites, up from 48 participating sites in FY23 and 82 in FY24. Over its first three years (FY23 through FY25), the tax collected about $213 million more than budgeted and earned roughly $20 million in interest.
AI-drafted plain-language summary, reviewed by an editor — not the verbatim official record. See the sources for the exact wording.
Independent auditor finding
“The program is largely achieving its equity goals, but needs to address risks to expansion. The audit found Preschool for All is reaching its equity objectives but must improve provider support and outreach and spend more of its reserves to stay on track for universal preschool by 2030.”
— Preschool for All: The program is largely achieving its equity goals, but needs to address risks to expansion, April 2025 · report
Supportive Housing Services
In plain terms
Supportive Housing Services is a regional Metro program addressing homelessness, paid for by a 1 percent personal income tax. The program sets a 10-year goal of moving 5,000 households into permanent supportive housing, which combines a place to live with ongoing services, and stabilizing another 10,000 households. In its third year (fiscal year 2023-24), the tax brought in about $335.1 million in actual collections.
AI-drafted plain-language summary, reviewed by an editor — not the verbatim official record. See the sources for the exact wording.
Independent auditor finding
“"The Housing Department made progress implementing most of the recommendations from our January 2024 audit... Of the eighteen recommendations, nine were implemented, seven were in process, and two were not implemented. Some areas could benefit from continued improvement."”
— Supportive Housing Services Follow-Up Audit, November 2025 · report
Portland Clean Energy Fund
In plain terms
The Portland Clean Energy Fund pays for climate and clean-energy projects in Portland. Its money comes from a 1 percent surcharge on the Portland sales of large retailers, meaning those businesses pay an extra 1 percent on qualifying sales made in the city. The fund's 2024 Climate Investment Plan, which lays out how the money will be spent, totals approximately $1.6 billion.
AI-drafted plain-language summary, reviewed by an editor — not the verbatim official record. See the sources for the exact wording.
Independent auditor finding
“"We found that the program had made progress with some elements, but others were not yet fully implemented or needed direction from City Council." The audit concluded the program began developing accountability systems but needs timeframes for completion, needed guidance from its volunteer committee and Council on climate goals/capacity-building/oversight, and identified challenges managing the administrative cost limit due to unpredictable revenues; not addressing these elements could jeopardize the City's ability to meet the legislative intent of the voter-approved program.”
— Portland Clean Energy Fund: Additional steps needed to implement voter-approved program, 2022-03-10 · report
Parks Levy
In plain terms
The Parks Levy is a voter-approved property tax that funds Portland Parks and Recreation. A levy is a tax charged on property based on its assessed value, which is the county's taxable value of a home or building. The rate is $0.80 per $1,000 of assessed value, which works out to about $240 a year on a property assessed at $300,000. It is projected to raise about $47 million per year, and the auditor's crosscheck puts five-year revenue at roughly $239 million. In FY2024-25 the levy collected $51.18 million and spent $63.77 million, and its Access Discount program provided $4,699,217 in financial assistance to 18,844 users.
AI-drafted plain-language summary, reviewed by an editor — not the verbatim official record. See the sources for the exact wording.
Independent auditor finding
“"The audit found that Levy funds were used in compliance with voter-approved commitments, and that Levy dollars were clearly tracked using strong financial systems and tracking mechanisms to ensure transparent management of funds." There were no recommendations.”
— Performance Audit of the 2020 Parks Local Option Levy, December 2024 · report
Arts Tax
In plain terms
The Arts Tax is a flat $35 charged to most income-earning Portland residents each year, used to fund arts education and local arts groups. The money pays for arts teachers in schools, reaching about 28,000 children a year; the number of K-5 full-time-equivalent arts teachers grew from 31 before the Arts Access Fund to 113 in 2024-25. Since 2012 the tax has generated approximately $135 million total. In FY2025-26, Arts General Operating Support totaled $2,805,000 (combining the Arts Fund and General Fund), of which $1,823,250 came from the Arts Access Fund alone, and it funded 79 local organizations.
AI-drafted plain-language summary, reviewed by an editor — not the verbatim official record. See the sources for the exact wording.
Independent auditor finding
“The Arts Tax has expanded arts education and supports arts organizations, but the City has not consistently delivered on promises to voters.”
— Arts Tax: City needs to make improvements to deliver on voter approved arts education and grants commitments, 2026-03-18 · report