Transportation bureaus outline trade-offs and operating gaps in mayor’s proposed budget

City bureau directors and deputy administrators told the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that the mayor’s proposed budget restores some cuts but leaves significant trade-offs requiring either new revenues or further reductions to services.

At a committee meeting focused on the mayor’s proposed transportation and infrastructure budget, Deputy City Administrator Jonas Berry, representatives from the Bureau of Environmental Services (BES), the Water Bureau and the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) detailed how the mayor’s proposal balances operating needs against a backlog of deferred maintenance.

Jonas Berry, the city’s deputy city administrator for budget, finance and chief financial officer, said the financing analysis and the asset-management strategy work will proceed in tandem and that the city is “standing ready” to develop financing strategies. Ting Lu, interim director for BES, told the committee the bureau identified $1.5 million in critical operating needs and that the mayor’s proposal restores a previously proposed $1.1 million rate reduction subject to full-council approval. Quisha Light, interim director of the Water Bureau, said the bureau eliminated 18 vacant positions to meet the balanced-budget requirement, preserved core water services and restored an 8.1% rate forecast in the mayor’s proposal. Light also described $1.9 million in annual savings from no longer covering credit- and…