Portland councilors move to bundle small office carryovers and coordinate dozens of budget notes ahead of June 11

Portland City Council leadership used Wednesday’s work session to propose administrative steps aimed at shortening the June 11 budget meeting: bundle councilors’ one‑time carryovers into a single over‑expenditure ordinance and encourage councilors with related requests to work together before the next meeting.

Council President (unnamed in the transcript) told colleagues that several offices had asked to carry forward underspent office budgets to fund one‑time projects and suggested packaging those requests into a single amendment for a quick vote. “If there aren’t questions or concerns, that’ll give me a signal that we might be able to do those quickly at once,” the president said. Several councilors signaled support and agreed to send written language to budget staff.

Beyond the over‑expenditure conversation, dozens of budget notes and amendments were flagged at the work session. Notable items included proposals to:

- Require the Police Bureau to spend $1,000,000 of asset‑forfeiture special revenue on external program evaluations and to study a possible forfeiture “fee” (Councilor Murillo). - Direct the police bureau and budget staff to prepare hiring and overtime forecasts (discussion led by budget staff and DCA Myers). - Direct Parks leadership to revive sponsorship and volunteer programs and explore public‑private partnerships to support parks assets (Councilors Clark, Ryan, and others). - Ask the City Administrator to convene a working group to study rate‑design across public‑works bureaus (Councilor Green). - Request studies of alternative transportation and delivery fees, and of potential vacancy fees for residential and commercial properties (Councilors Knoell and others). - Direct more disclosure about large contracts before execution and require reporting on the city’s contracts and liabilities (Councilor Smith’s proposed budget note).

Councilors emphasized strategy and transparency. Councilor Ryan asked that bundled carryovers be made visible to the public for transparency. Councilor Greene encouraged detailed budget notes, saying the council is the city’s budget committee and must legislate with specifics. Several councilors suggested combining overlapping notes and amendments and agreed to work between meetings to find shared language.

No formal votes were taken during the work session. Budget staff said they will accept written versions of amendments and prepare the technical language needed for the June 11 budget meeting.

What’s next: Council leadership will consolidate carryover requests into a proposed amendment if members submit them in writing. Budget staff will prepare technical analyses and draft ordinance language for the full budget hearing on June 11.