Portland officials lay out enterprise-wide approach as city begins budget season

Portland city leaders told the City Council on April 2 that the coming budget cycle will be guided by an enterprise-wide, comparative review of bureaus and service areas rather than the historic, bureau-by-bureau submissions.

"The general fund only represents about 10% of the total city budget," City Administrator Mike Jordan told councilors, and because that slice is discretionary, it receives the most attention even though the rest of the budget is largely dedicated funds such as utilities and fee-based services.

Jordan said staff are prioritizing vacant positions when considering cuts, conducting a span-of-control review for managers and performing an assessment of seven internal service delivery systems—including equity and engagement, HR, IT and procurement—to estimate potential savings from restructuring over the next 15 months. "Those estimates, at least," Jordan said, "will be embedded in the mayor's proposed as potential savings."

Deputy City Administrator and CFO Jonas Biri said service-area managers were asked to show how deeply they could cut "without breaking the system," then identify near- and long-term impacts. Biri said the budget and finance service area recommended eliminating four vacant positions, allowing two limited-term revenue positions to expire, trimming insurance coverage for an estimated $270,000 in ongoing savings, reducing some externally managed grants by about $350,000 (roughly 5%) and trimming donor-funded programs by roughly 8% (about $100,000).

Councilors repeatedly asked for more detail before the mayor's proposed budget appears May 5, and staff said additional documents and decision packages would be circulated. Council President opened the session by telling members the meeting was "the start of our budget work" and not the formal budget committee.

The presentations stressed three constraints that will shape choices: limited general-fund discretion, one-time revenues that have funded some ongoing programs, and continuing service demands for public safety and infrastructure. Jordan and the DCAs urged councilors to use committee hearings and upcoming bureau-level briefings to probe specific trade-offs and to identify information needed before adoption.

The council will receive the mayor's proposed budget on May 5 and a mayoral presentation on May 7; administrators said they expect to use available policy reserves and other tools but cautioned those carry trade-offs. "The flip side of using those reserves is risk," the CFO said, noting reserves are meant to protect the city in downturns such as the pandemic.

Members asked for org charts tied to FTEs, clearer separation of one-time versus ongoing funds, and line-item spreadsheets; staff committed to circulate decision packages and electronic copies of the full materials already provided in hard copy.

Looking ahead, administrators said they will continue to prioritize services differently by service area (for example, holding core public safety staffing harmless while seeking reductions in other public-safety units) and to evaluate enterprise revenue alternatives for items such as the Urban Flood Safety District fee.