Councilor Smith to seek $825,000 ongoing for small‑donor elections from city administrator services and materials

Councilor Carmen Smith said she will file an amendment to make the small‑donor elections restoration an ongoing expense funded from the city administrator’s services and materials account rather than from the one‑time golf fund.

"If we continue to take this out of a fund, it won't be put in ongoing. So we need to take from ongoing money to make sure that this particular amendment is funded every year," Smith said referring to the $825,000 figure tied to the program.

When asked whether the administrator had any concerns about using ongoing funds, City Administrator Jordan said there were "not many places to get that much money except Portland Solutions," and noted the city administrator's office had a relatively small ongoing budget. Jordan warned that shifting $825,000 into an ongoing line would likely require drawing from large centralized accounts.

Council staff and the city administrator clarified that the amendment, if offered, would be a new amendment to the underlying budget document (because the prior amendment had already been adopted) and that the funds would be specified in the amendment language. Smith said she had already identified the target line as services and materials in the city administrator’s budget and that she would provide the language.

City staff warned the council that some divisions—particularly Portland Solutions—had limited flexibility and that large redirections of recurring dollars would require specific line‑item adjustments. Smith said she would work with staff to identify the precise line items; she said she planned to pursue the change to make the program ongoing.