Services First Budget Amendment

The Mayor's proposed budget includes unacceptable cuts to staff in public safety, parks, and other core service areas that Portlanders rely on. Unless council acts, Portland will lose capacity to deliver essential services like public safety and parks maintenance, that will be difficult and expensive to restore in the future. Councilors Mitch Green, Candace Avalos, and Angelita Morillo are leading the Services First (Green-Avalos-Morillo 1) budget amendment to restore these vital resources.

Services First Will Fund

This package will fund 103 Positions using $16.5M in Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF) interest already accrued in FY 2025-26, and $4.8M of other fund contingencies (appropriate to their funds) in the following ways:

1. Realignment Pause - Using $8 million for a realignment pause for 46.0 FTE ($3.2 million from PCEF Interest and $4.8 million of other fund contingencies)
2. Advanced Life Support (ALS) Teams - $1.65 million
3. Public Support Safety Specialists (PS3) - $3.45 million (26 FTE)
4. Victims Services Unit - $302,000 (2 FTE)
5. Parks and Recreation - $6.12 million (22 FTE and maintenance and programming)
6. Relay Janitorial Services - $261,000
7. Immigration - $429,000 (1 FTE - Establish Office of Immigration Affairs)
8. 311 Service Restoration - $888,000 (6 FTE)

In 2024 and 2025, Council approved a one-time transfer of PCEF interest for programmatic areas due to budget constraints. Historically, the Mayor and City Administrator have directed where PCEF interest should be applied before council has taken action. The Services First amendment defines that PCEF interest should be used for public safety, parks, and other unacceptable budget gaps that will reduce basic services for Portlanders.