Finance committee advances broad package of rates, SDC and fee changes for water, sewer, parking, permitting, solid waste and parks

The Portland City Council Finance Committee on April 7 heard presentations and forwarded to the full council a package of ordinances covering utility rates, system development charges (SDCs), parking and transportation fees, permitting fees, solid waste charges and parks fees for fiscal year 2025–26.

Presenters for bureaus including the Portland Water Bureau, the Bureau of Environmental Services (BES), the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), Portland Permitting and Development (PPND), the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (solid waste) and Portland Parks & Recreation described proposed adjustments they said are needed to meet operating costs, regulatory obligations and capital investments.

Bureau staff emphasized affordability programs while also describing tradeoffs between cutting proposed increases and the risk of deferred maintenance, reduced service levels or future larger rate increases. “For 75 percent of Portlanders, our rates are affordable,” Farhad Al‑Adadi of BES said, while outlining multi‑decade asset replacement needs and regulatory cost pressures. Cecilia Hune, finance director for the Water Bureau, said the bureaus develop multi‑decade expense models and then allocate costs across customer classes; staff noted a range of targeted affordability and assistance programs, and that assistance has reached roughly 12,000 customers…