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Arts and Culture office, spectator venues report shifting fund balances and a technical cut to correct
Summary
City officials said oversight of large spectator venues and the newly formed Office of Arts and Culture will manage a temporary elevated fund balance while the Veterans Memorial Coliseum renovation completes; the Office of Arts and Culture flagged a technical error in the mayor's proposed general-fund cut.
City officials briefed councilors on the budgets for spectator venues and the newly formed Office of Arts and Culture, noting the financial impacts of one-time projects and an accounting error in the mayor's proposed cuts.
Donnie Olivera and Shay Flerty Bettine explained that the spectator-venues fund is unusually large in FY24-25 because it includes proceeds and beginning balances tied to a $54 million bond issuance for Veterans Memorial Coliseum renovations. Olivera said the bond's annual debt service is paid from a dedicated Multnomah County visitor facilities trust account and that the project is expected to be completed by the end of FY25-26.
Charity Montes, director of the Office of Arts and Culture, described the office's revenue mix and its staffing. She said the office has six FTE and administers grants, public art and arts education. Montes noted a discrepancy in the proposed budget's beginning fund balance for the arts access and percent-for-art funds: the revised FY24-25 budget shows $3.5 million in expected arts access fund disbursements but actual receipts were $2.1 million, producing a beginning fund-balance variance that Montes said will be corrected in the adopted budget or fall bump.
Montes also said the mayor's proposed 8% general-fund reduction was accidentally applied twice in the draft and necessitates a technical fix. "That should actually be 1,400,000 less for a total of 2,200,000," she said of the beginning fund balance note; she asked council to correct the item during adoption.
Other points: The spectator venues program receives revenue from ticket fees and regional tourism allocations and does not rely on general-fund support; many contracting and renovation costs are financed externally for the VMC project. The Arts and Culture office said it will proceed with hiring a new public-art administrator and focus on percent-for-art improvements and grants management while adjusting for lower arts-access fund estimates.
Bottom line: Councilors were warned that FY24-25 figures include large one-time capital financing for VMC; arts staff asked for a technical correction to reverse an accidental double cut to general-fund support for arts grants and maintenance.
