Portland City Council adopts final budget for 2026-27

Facing a record shortfall of $170 million in the general fund, the Council successfully balanced the books for the 2026-27 fiscal year, adopting a budget of $8.5 billion that maintains critical services while making painful cuts.

Adopted yesterday, the budget keeps open all Portland's 31 fire stations, 157 parks, 11 community centers, and 11 swimming pools. It keeps all Portland police officers and investigators on the job.

The budget also makes sharp reductions to many city programs, including homeless shelters, parks, and police support staff. All told, the budget discontinues approximately 140 positions from the City's payroll. Accounting for vacant positions, about 100 City employees will be laid off starting Aug. 3.

"We have finished the budget on time, and we were able to protect some crucial services and jobs," Council President Jamie Dunphy said after the vote. "This was a tough budget season that would not have gone as smoothly as it did without the hard work of my Council Colleagues and the City staff who work tirelessly behind the scenes to make it happen."

Watch the council discussion

"When I introduced my proposed budget, I warned my Council colleagues that their deliberations would require far more painful decisions and significant cuts than our city has faced in many years," Mayor Keith Wilson said. "The most painful effects will land on our dedicated workforce, especially the employees whose roles will be impacted by these reductions, and we deeply value their service to this city."

"Emerging from this difficult process, Portland is full steam ahead," Wilson continued. "Together-as I promised-we kept every fire station open, funded every park and community center, preserved our shelter system, and kept every police officer and investigator on the job. The result is a budget that will reaffirm and sustain our successes in public safety, compassion for our most vulnerable, environmental stewardship, and economic recovery."

The budget was balanced through a combination of fund transfers, new fees, and spending cuts.

New revenue and other funding sources

• Tapping $47 million from various reserves and contingency funds.
• Transferring $27 million in interest earned by the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund.
• A transportation utility fee projected to raise $23 million through charges tacked onto water, sewer, and stormwater bills starting next year - adding roughly $12 a month for a single-family home or $8.40 a month for an apartment. This supports repaving, pothole repair, sidewalk repair, and safety improvements to reduce traffic deaths. Every $1 invested in pavement preservation can avoid $6 to $10 in future reconstruction costs.
• A street damage restoration fee projected to raise $20 million, paid by utilities who dig into roads to install power lines, gas lines, and cables. Trenching reduces the life of pavement by over 60%. This revenue will be invested in pavement repair.
• Increasing other charges and fees.

Spending cuts

• Homeless services: No longer transferring $31 million to Multnomah County to provide homeless services. Instead, Portland will provide those services directly to help our most vulnerable neighbors move into permanent housing. In addition, cutting shelter services by $18 million (31%) to $40 million, and reducing support for street outreach services by $1.7 million (37%) to $2.8 million.
• Police: Cutting $21.0 million in materials and services, technology, administrative support, and programs such as public safety support specialists.
• Fire: Reducing the number of hours that some teams operate, and other reductions for cuts of $4.1 million.
• Parks: Operational efficiency, reducing community center operating hours, reducing maintenance, and other reductions for a total of $11.4 million.
• Streamlining: Saving $19.3 million citywide across human resources, information technology, procurement, equity, engagement, and communications, and realigning into a more centralized model.
• Other reductions: Cuts to Prosper Portland, the Bureau of Emergency Communications, PDX 311, and other bureaus and offices.

Find budget documents

• Staff are still compiling the final budget. Check back for links.
• More budget documents

Financial crunch

Portland faced a record shortfall in the general fund that swelled to $170 million this year, representing a gap of about 19% to maintain current service levels. Releasing his proposed budget, Mayor Wilson said the City must "span farther, carry more weight, and bridge a deeper chasm than we have previously demanded of city government."

The deficit stems from years of lagging revenues, rising costs, and mounting pressures shared by governments across the state and region, leaving the City with fewer financial partners than in previous years.

The city's balance sheet faces several structural issues that together have produced a slow-moving budget crisis. President Trump's 2025 tax act, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, altered the way the federal government calculates business tax. This change alone strips the city of an expected $33 million in revenue over two years. It is also choking off millions of dollars of tax revenue for Multnomah County and the State of Oregon.

At the same time, the rise of remote work has sapped demand for office space, depressing downtown real estate values and reducing income from property taxes, while inflation keeps pushing the City's expenses higher.

How the budget process works

The City's multi-billion-dollar budget runs from July 1 to June 30. Budget development for the next fiscal year begins every fall.

Each year, the City begins by asking two simple questions: How much money will we have, and how should we use it? The budget office starts by estimating how much the City expects to receive and how much it will spend.

The mayor proposes a budget that balances revenues and expenditures and reflects the mayor's vision for services and programs that will best support Portlanders.

City Council reviews and amends the mayor's proposed budget to reflect their priorities. Once Council approves a preliminary budget, they can make additional amendments before adopting a final budget in late June.

Learn about the budget process.