The current budget of the city is around $7.2 billion, but due to double counting involving beginning fund balances, contingency funds, and inter governmental transfers the real budget is only around $4.5-5 billion.1 I currently have about $1 billion of budget cuts based on the 2024 budget, and possibly $100's of millions more. This is just the beginning as I have only studied the city budget a limited amount. I will also work with the county government to decrease their budgets.
Portland Housing Bureau - The Portland Housing Bureau's budget is currently around $320 million. This money is supposedly used on different ways of making housing affordable, but it is not very effective. This money can be redirected to building new homeless shelters, and buying up privately owned apartments.
Capital Projects - Capital projects refer to single time investments, generally infrastructure or equipment. Based on last year's budget I was able to find $556,295,000 budget Cuts, and $365,234,000 more possible budget cuts. Possible budget cuts just refers to budget cuts I would need more information about before making. A detailed list of capitol projects I would cut from last year can be found HERE. There also many projects that had inflated costs, so savings could be even further increased once we analyze costs of approved projects. Some costs were up to 20 timers higher then market based prices. The new Farragut park basketball court for example was quoted at $350,000 where basketball courts only cost $15,000-20,000. The new old town skate park that is being planned is quoted at $15 million, where skate parks of the same size only cost 1.5 million based on market rates.
Government Employee Pay - I will investigate employee pay and make sure that average pay per hour is equivalent to what it is in the private. Taxes are not meant to enrich government employees at the expense of private employees. There will be a transition into this if there is a difference in pay.
Government Employee Retirement Pensions - I will investigate employee pensions and make sure that average payout is equivalent to what it is in the private. Public pensions have shown to be almost double compared to private pensions.2 There will be a transition into this if there is a difference in payout.
Community Police Oversight System - I will eliminate the new Community Police Oversight System and keep the old Independent Police Review. The budget of the new system in 2020 was projected to be around $13 million while the old one was $3 million.3 Adjusted for inflation current budgets are probably somewhere around $17 million and $4 million. $4 million is already a significant budget for a city that only averages around 3-4 police involved shootings a year.4 Cutting the new system will save us around $15 million a year. I will keep other aspects of the bill such as transparency of bureau files and the ability to subpoena officers. The new police oversight system also has an undemocratic process of selecting the oversight committee.
New City Council Structure - The new city council structure is estimated to cost $13 million more a year to operate.5 Cutting it will save us that amount. We will transition into the new system I have as described in my other policy section.
County Elections Division - The current elections division budget is $8.5 million.6 I will work with them on decreasing their budget by possibly adopting internet based voting, eliminating special elections in the spring etc.
Multnomah County Libraries - The expenditure only budget of Multnomah County Libraries in 2024 was $110 million7 while total checkouts was 17 million.8 This creates a real cost of $6.5 per item checked out. I will work to increase efficiency of the Libraries in several ways. I will cut several libraries including Kenton, Albina, Gregory Heights, Northwest 23rd, Fairview, Sellwood, Woodstock, and Capitol Hill. This by itself should cut the budget in half. We can start charging a small out of pocket cost of $1 a book, while leaving e-books free. This will encourage the use of e-books which should be more cost efficient. We can cut fiction adult books from library purchases, as adults should only be reading non-fiction. This would save some expenditures. I will work further on increasing efficiency of services and decreasing employees. Overall savings should be at least $50 million a year. All further new library construction that is planned for this coming year will also be halted.
New Levee Bond (Measure 26-243) - The new levee bond was for $150 million and goes to several projects to increase flood safety.9 Some of these projects were required by the federal government while some of them were not. I will cut out unnecessary projects such as flood restoration and raising the levees, as flooding isn't really a concern with the current system. Exact decisions will be made later.
Burnside Bridge Replacement - I will halt the construction of the new Burnside Bridge. This will save us $900 million. The Sellwood bridge and Tilikum Bridge are both earthquake proof. Possibly at a later time this bridge can be built.10
Small Donors Elections Program - The small donors elections programs is currently costing up to $4 million an election. The programs uses tax money to fund campaigns for candidates, and only rewards people if they are able to receive donations from over 750 individuals. Essentially rewarding well connected established candidates. Cutting this will save us up to $4 million an election.11
Environmental Services - My plan is to drill holes in curbs in order to siphon water into the grassy area between the sidewalk and curb known as the furnishing zone. Private property owners can then design their furnishing zones in a way that can trap water such as listed HERE. This should decrease operation costs of bureau of environmental services as there will be less storm water to be treated. I will work with the Bureau of Environmental Services to further analyze this plan and the costs. The current budget of the Bureau of Environmental Services is around $500 million not including contingency, debt services and transfers.12
Ankle Monitors and Red Light Cameras - Ankle monitors and red light cameras I believe are often monitored by the private, and is done inefficiently. I will ensure the police runs these operations directly and it is done efficiently.
Mental Health Services and Homeless Out Reach - Both of these services currently have budgets in the tens of millions as far as I am aware. Both of these services are not very efficient or effective. Mental health clinics are often extremely expensive costing $2,000 per day per resident on average, and also force people on drugs.14 The new homeless shelters will have counselors and therapists there to work with the homeless. If there are actual emergencies people can go to the hospital where professionals will take care of them temporarily. Homeless outreach is also generally pretty ineffective, the city generally just has people go out and talk to the homeless if there is a report called in. With the new RV parks we will have some outreach go out there to serve them. Aa far as reports of homeless, I will work with the police and once new shelters are built they will generally just be moved in there, for now we will just have the homeless return to their camp or a shelter depending on what they prefer. I will work on decreasing both these budgets overtime.
1 Adopted Budget City of Portland, Oregon Fiscal Year 2023-24 Volume One Citywide Summaries and Bureau Budgets (Page 43) Retrieved from https://www.portland.gov/cbo/2023-2024-budget/documents/fy-2023-24-adopted-budget-volume-1-citywide-summaries-and-bureau/download
2 Ann C. Foster. Public and Private Sector Defined Benefit Pensions: A Comparison. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Page 5) Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/mlr/cwc/public-and-private-sector-defined-benefit-pensions-a-comparison.pdf
3 OPB. Portland Moves Toward Adopting New Police Oversight System While City Council is Lukewarm About Changes. Retrieved from https://www.opb.org/article/2023/08/17/portland-oregon-police-oversightsystem/#:~:text=The%20measure%20guarantees%20a%20budget, of%20the%20future%20department's%20budget.
4 Officer Involved Shootings Summaries. Retrieved from https://www.portland.gov/police/open-data/ois-summaries
5 Sophie Peel. Leading the New Form of Government Will Cost City $13 Million More Annually, New Estimates Show. Willamette Week. Retrieved from https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2023/10/23/organization-of-new-form-of-government-will-cost-25-million-annually-new-estimates-show/
6 Multnomah County FY 2025 Volume 2 Adopted Budget Complete Document.pdf. (Page 173) Retrieved from https://multco-web7-psh-files-usw2.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/FY%202025%20Volume%202%20Adopted%20Budget%20%20Complete%20Document.pdf
7 Retrieved from https://www.tsccmultco.com/wp-content/uploads/MultCo-Library-FY-24-Budget-Review.pdf
8 Retrieved from https://multcolib.org/news-facts#:~:text=In%20Fiscal%20Year%202023%2D2024,more%20than%201.1%20million%20holds.
9 Retrieved from https://www.multco.us/elections/measure-26-243-bonds-upgrade-levees-floodwalls-water-pumps-natural-floodplain-restoration
10 Retrieved from https://www.constructiondive.com/news/burnside-bridge-portland-earthquake-ready/697552/#:~:text=Multnomah%20County%2C%20Oregon%20chose%20its,the%20heart%20of%20the%20city.
11 Retrieved from https://www.portland.gov/smalldonorelections/match-cap-changes
12 Retrieved from https://www.portland.gov/ppd/publicworks/managing-rain-your-property
13 Retrieved from https://www.portland.gov/cbo/2023-2024-budget/documents/bureau-environmental-services-fy2023-24-0/download#:~:text=Focusing%20on%20FY%202023%2D24,plans%20to%20spend%20%24184.9%20million.
14 Retrieved from https://amfmtreatment.com/cost/residential/#:~:text=If%20you%20don't%20have, a%20typical%2030%2Dday%20program