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CFO outlines staffing cuts, grant trims and small insurance savings in finance service area
Summary
Deputy City Administrator and CFO Jonas Biri described proposed finance service-area reductions ahead of the mayor's budget, including elimination of four vacant positions, expiry of two limited-term revenue positions, $270,000 in insurance savings, about $350,000 in reduced external grants and an 8% cut to donor programs (roughly $100,000).
Portland's budget and finance deputy city administrator, Jonas Biri, told the City Council on April 2 that managers were asked to show how deeply they could cut "without breaking the system," and then document the near- and long-term impacts of those reductions.
Biri said the service-area recommendations that made it into the city administrator's preliminary package include elimination of four positions (two in the city budget office and two in business operations). He said those are currently vacant and will not cause immediate layoffs, though they will constrain the service area's ability to support organizational improvement work. Two limited-term positions in the revenue bureau were recommended to expire, which the CFO said "will likely result in reduced revenue collection" and a diminished ability to respond to customer service requests from Portlanders.
On non-personnel items, Biri said the city's risk team identified reductions in some portions of the insurance program that should save about $270,000 annually but will reduce some types of coverage in the event of a major event. The service-area package also includes a roughly $350,000 ongoing reduction to some externally administered grants (described by Biri as about a 5% cut to most affected grants) and an approximately 8% reduction to donor-funded programs, about $100,000.
Biri warned councilors that the finance and budget teams "really don't have any services or programs that we can fully eliminate without materially increasing cost or risk to the city," and that reducing personnel and contract capacity would delay internal and external customer response and analysis.
He said the service area will continue day-to-day operations and prioritize back-office support for organizational and process improvements but stressed that the suggested reductions will pressure those teams in the near term.
Councilors asked for spreadsheets and line-item detail; Biri and staff committed to circulate decision packages and support subsequent committee-level hearings.
