Portland finance committee backs fall technical budget adjustments, rejects encumbrance reallocation amendment

The Portland City Council Finance Committee voted Nov. 3 to send the fiscal year 2025–26 fall supplemental budget technical adjustment ordinance to the full Council with a recommendation of "do pass." The committee approved the procedural motion after a day of technical presentations and debate over prior-year encumbrance carryovers for contracts such as sidewalk cleaning and graffiti removal.

Jonas Biri, the city’s chief financial officer, told the committee the technical adjustment ordinance (TAO) is intended to "align the budget to fiscal year end results" and is not a vehicle for policy changes. "There’s no question that budget work is complicated and complex and not always intuitive," Biri said, urging the committee to advance the ordinance so bureaus can operate within budgets that reflect actual obligations and so staff can build the FY26–27 base budget.

The TAO package was supported by city financial staff, who described a multi-month review process: data gathering began in July, a City Budget Office memo describing…