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Finance Committee reviews opioid settlement receipts and uncertainty over future allocations
Summary
City staff told the Finance Committee that Portland has received $8.3 million in opioid settlement funds to date, has proposed roughly $6.8 million in allocations through FY24‑25 and expects about $1.5 million to be appropriated in a future action; staff emphasized the timing and amounts of future settlement payments are unpredictable.
The Portland City Council Finance Committee heard an overview of opioid settlement funds on Feb. 24, 2025, as staff outlined how past payments have been used and why future receipts remain uncertain.
Jonas Berry, deputy city administrator for budget and finance and the city’s chief financial officer, told the committee that the city has “settlement agreements with 8 entities to provide opioid dollars over many future years through fiscal 38, 39,” but cautioned that “the actual amounts and timing of that receipt is not predictable.” He said the city has received $8.3 million in total opioid funds since fiscal year 2020–23 and that the total allocated and proposed through fiscal year 24–25 is approximately $6.8 million, leaving roughly $1.5 million expected for appropriation in a future budget action.
Berry also placed the receipts in the city’s existing budget and legal framework: “In compliance with state budget law and city charter, city council appropriates spending of grants funds as part of each year’s annual adopted budget or in a midyear supplemental budget action or grants-related ordinance,” he said, adding that the city’s grants undergo an annual external independent audit and that the city “received a clean grants audit for at least the past 5 years, including the most recently completed fiscal year 23–24.”
Committee members pressed staff on two recurring themes: (1) how predictable future payments are and whether the city should treat the receipts as recurring revenue, and (2) how councilors will be notified when the city receives future settlement payments. Berry and Sheila Craig, a grants manager, said that the timing and size of payments vary and that some settling entities may pay multiple installments in a single year. “We received 3 payments in 1 year from them,” Craig said, explaining why staff can only project amounts and cannot guarantee a steady annual payment.
When Councilor Green asked whether staff could produce high/low forecast ranges to inform whether funds should be used for short-term versus multi‑year commitments, staff said they already maintain a spreadsheet projecting receipts out to fiscal year 38–39 and agreed to include that modeling in a forthcoming report. Berry said the city will present future settlement amounts to council for appropriation when staff seek to allocate funds.
The committee also discussed a resolution the council passed on Feb. 19 requiring a report; Berry said the city administrator’s office and the grants management division are preparing a more detailed report on appropriations and expenditures that staff expect to provide in advance of an April 21 deadline identified in that resolution.
No formal action was taken by the Finance Committee on allocation policy at the Feb. 24 meeting; staff said future appropriations would be brought to council for decision.
