Portland transportation bureau outlines $38 million GTR shortfall, proposes deep service cuts

Portland Bureau of Transportation Director Millicent Williams told the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Monday that the bureau faces a projected $38 million shortfall in general transportation revenue for fiscal 2025-26 and must consider deep reductions across programs if new revenue or bond financing is not secured.

The shortfall stems from updated revenue forecasts for state highway funds and parking, anticipated citywide administrative cost increases, planned interagency costs and other new expenditures in the five-year forecast, Williams said. "After six years of budget decisions that have required us ... we are where we are today," Williams said, adding the bureau must "maintain minimal operability where possible" and manage risk and liability.

The committee heard a line-by-line explanation of where PBOT's revenues and expenses flow. Jeremy Patton, PBOT deputy director for finance and administration, described the bureau's budget structure, saying most of PBOT's resources are restricted to capital programs or specific fees and grants and that about $90 million of flexible GTR funding remains after required expenditures. "We're cutting $38,000,000 off of that $90," Patton said, noting the reduction equals a little over 40% of flexible programming.

PBOT officials laid out specific proposed reductions that would affect service delivery if adopted. Highlights included: - Capital planning and project development: elimination of several grant-match funds and cuts to planning, outreach and engineering oversight for projects such as Outer Division, Outer Stark, 148th and Foster; reduced in-house traffic modeling and reliance on consultants (Art Pierce, deputy director for planning projects). - Permitting and right-of-way compliance: cuts to compliance staff and sidewalk-posting inspections, increasing a backlog the bureau listed as about 5,400 cases (Alex Fejerano, deputy director, engineering services). - Parking and enforcement: hiring 14 parking enforcement officers to reach 80 total, but halving funding for parking sign installation and adjustments and reducing shared revenue to three parking districts by about 75% (Wendy Collie, deputy director, transportation operations). PBOT would maintain existing automated enforcement equipment but could not expand cameras beyond current 20 speed and 17 intersection cameras. - Derelict RV removals: capacity to remove roughly 550 RVs annually would fall to about 140 under the proposal (Wendy Collie). - Signals and street lighting: a proposed cut of about $4.2 million in discretionary maintenance would preserve repairs only on the city's high-crash corridors and intersections, and lead to reduced repair of ornamental downtown lights and limits on ADA push-button installations (Wendy Collie). - Street maintenance and cleaning: elimination of pavement markings such as crosswalk paint, reduced paving/crack sealing, and elimination of commercial and arterial street sweeping programs; continued core functions but with reduced staffing and longer response times (Jody Yates, maintenance operations).

Williams stressed that some expenses are legally or contractually required and cannot be cut, including ADA curb ramp work tied to a settlement agreement. Committee members pressed for numeric detail on individual reductions and asked for dollar figures on discrete items; staff said they would provide those figures.

Committee discussion also covered possible mitigation steps: the bureau put forward revenue options that could reduce the gap to roughly $18 million in the city administrator's proposal, including a potential $80 million limited revenue bond for ADA ramps that PBOT estimates would free about $12 million annually in later years. Williams and staff also pointed to possible revenue increases such as higher parking rates (estimated at just under $7 million annually if adopted), TNC surcharges and fee adjustments as part of longer-term discussions.

Councilors repeatedly asked for itemized dollar amounts for each cut to inform upcoming votes on the mayor's and city administrator's budgets. Several called the presentation "sobering" and urged the bureau and council to pursue stable transportation funding.

The committee did not take final action; PBOT presented the reduction options for committee input and said it would return with more detailed numbers and follow-up briefings.