Release: Councilor Novick Responds to Mayor's Proposed Budget, Noting Cuts to Parks and Reliance on One-Time Funding

I congratulate Mayor Wilson for finding efficiencies within the City and finding funding from external partners for his homeless shelter initiative. He and his team have worked hard and tirelessly, and we are all grateful.

I am concerned that the Mayor focuses his cuts on Parks, specifically outdoor parks maintenance. Services affected include removing hazards (such as hypodermic needles and broken glass) and offensive graffiti, restroom cleaning, trash pickup, maintenance of sports fields, and playground repairs. That's not in alignment with Portlanders' priorities. A recent scientific poll showed that Portlanders would rather cut police and community centers than parks maintenance. And, as former Parks director Zari Santner has pointed out, if you start letting maintenance go, it becomes much more expensive to restore the parks to their prior condition.

The cuts are particularly concerning because the Parks Bureau has already said that even if there were no General Fund cuts, the Parks property tax levy will need to be increased to maintain current service levels. Focusing cuts in this budget on Parks makes the problem worse, leading to either more cuts to parks in the future, or a yet higher property tax levy.

I am also concerned by the heavy reliance on one-time funds in this budget. Again, the Mayor is to be congratulated on raising $25 million from state and regional partners to fund his initiative to add shelter space this year. But there is no guarantee that Metro will give us another $15 million next year, and it is virtually guaranteed that the State will NOT give us additional money next year - the Legislature works on a 2-year budget cycle.

Another example of one-time funding is $4 million that was slated to go to the County to help pay for a sobering center over the past two years, which has not been spent because the sobering center's opening has been delayed. We expect the sobering center to open next year, and we will have to meet our $2 million a year commitment. The reliance on these and other one-time funds means that the Mayor's proposed budget sets us up to have another deficit next year.

These factors lead me to the conclusion that the Council needs to look for additional sources of revenue -in order to limit the cuts to Parks, to limit the property tax increase we might pursue for Parks, and to avoid another deficit next year. The same poll that showed that Portlanders prioritize parks maintenance showed that Portlanders would be open to raising revenue from large national corporations.