Councilor Mitch Green Plays Pivotal Role in Passing Portland's First Budget Under New Government

June 13, 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Maria Sipin

Councilor Mitch Green Plays Pivotal Role in Passing Portland's First Budget Under New Government

Portland, OR - After a long, difficult, and sometimes tense process, the Portland City Council balanced and approved the FY 2025-26 budget late Wednesday night. Councilor Mitch Green emerged as a key facilitator in this process by successfully introducing and passing amendments that brought additional resources to fund urgent community priorities.

Green's amendments focused on recurring themes central to his vision for Portland: investing in core services, enhancing public safety through holistic approaches, sustaining the arts, and activating public spaces. Several amendments restored crucial funding to parks maintenance and programs. Green emphasized that well-maintained parks are not just amenities, but "a vital component of public safety and community well-being, preventing neglect that can lead to larger problems."

Two of Green's successful amendments were targeted at bolstering Portland Street Response (PSR), the innovative program providing behavioral health first response. The first secured funding to restart independent evaluation of the program, a step proponents say is critical to PSR's continued success. The second created a public safety set-aside fund that can be used to add staff as the program moves to a 24/7 service model.

"We are thrilled," said Kaia Sand, spokesperson for Friends of Portland Street Response. "Mitch is so talented at finding new revenue. He doesn't give up, he just finds new ways."

Green's set-aside also enables more capacity as needed for Portland Bureau of Emergency Management, Bureau of Emergency Communications, Community Health Assess and Treat, Portland Fire & Rescue, and Portland Police Bureau.

He also championed amendments that provided targeted aid to Portland's arts scene and to much-needed space activation, including $1 million to ensure the timely opening of downtown's James Beard Public Market, and $200,000 to help save Portland Center Stage from closure.

Despite these significant wins, Green expressed disappointment that the Council fell short in creatively addressing the still-massive structural shortfall in parks maintenance funding. Green championed an amendment related to Prosper Portland that would have freed up approximately $13 million in General Fund dollars annually. His proposal directed Prosper Portland to utilize a portion of its own $50 million Strategic Investment Fund for specific obligations, rather than relying on scarce General Funds from the City. This amendment, however, did not pass.

"This budget represents important progress and hard-won victories for essential services like PSR, parks maintenance, and our arts community," stated Green. "But the work is far from done. This budget still leaves many programs Portlanders rely on in a precarious position, and our City's revenue situation remains fundamentally untenable. We need to raise revenues from the places that make most sense - those who can most afford it - and we absolutely must invest in creating and maintaining a truly livable city for working families. That means sustainable funding for our parks, our safety net, and our basic services."

Council will vote to adopt the budget on June 18th.

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Partial list of Green's budget notes and amendments (passed and funded with amounts and budget sources):

• Green 01 - Support for Tenants at Everett Station Lofts - $125,000 - City Budget
• Green 02 - Invest in James Beard Public Market - $1 Million - Prosper Portland Budget
• Green 03 - Portland Street Response Evaluation - $150,000 - City Budget
• Green 04 - Transfer Councilor Green's FY24-25 Office Budget Funds for Pedestrian Safety Projects - $75,000 - City Budget
• Green 06 - One-Time Grant to Portland Center Stage - $200,000 - City Budget
• Green 09 - 2% EMS cuts across City, and additional cuts to Council Offices to secure funding for Green 01, Green 03, Green 06, Clark 2 (1 CEI Hub analyst position at $170,000), Dunphy 2 (Arts and Economic Investments at $314,000), Kanal 4 (Funding for Community Centers $265,000)
• Green 12 - Budget Note requiring City to identify funding opportunities for Anti-Displacement Task Force