Jeff Cogen
  • Jeff Cogen
The really difficult work on Multnomah County's budget will come this summer—and then again next year—once the state and federal governments solve their respective fiscal crises and figure out how much money they'll be pulling back from the local governments that rely on that cash over the next two years.

But budgeting rules being what they are, Multnomah County Chairman Jeff Cogen is putting forward a proposed spending plan this morning—making his best guess on the 25 percent to 30 percent of the budget that comes from Salem and Washington, DC, while also hoping to stave off cutbacks to social services programs for as long as possible.

That task was made easier by better-than-expected property tax revenues and business income tax receipts that fattened the county's general fund by $17 million since the past fiscal year, up to $410 million. Cogen had to balance just a $4.4 million deficit, a shortfall created by heavy use of one-time funds last year and debt associated with a new city/county mental health treatment center. (Overall, including all funds, the county's budget is $1.4 billion.)

Instead of targeting programs, Cogen was able to trim millions from administrative and personnel costs—asking managers to go without cost-of-living and merit raises, reorganizing offices, and thinning the county's management staff overall. That allowed him to stash away millions in contingency funds to weather state and federal funding cuts, and maintain—and even improve—other services provided by the county.

"I have prioritized preserving critical services in our community and chosen to cut administrative and support services," Cogen wrote in his budget message. "Unfortunately...it is not the end of the story for this fiscal year."

Staying in place, so far: Funding for mental health, addiction, and health programs that serve some 68,500 people. Staffing in the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office, with the addition of new position to process victims' restitution claims. Library hours and services. Diversity, sustainability, and equity offices.

Increasing and/or new: Staffing for suicide watch at the jail, after a spate of jailhouse suicides last year. An extra $1 million for homelessness programs, on top of the $1.3 million the county already spends. Job training programs for gang members. Cash for expanded after-school and early-childhood services at more Portland schools. A micro-lending program for small businesses.

Capital projects: There's still no money to run the Wapato jail, but the county will spend more than $300,000 to keep the building "mothballed" for use... someday. There's also money to run the county's share of the Multnomah County Crisis Assessment and Treatment Center's operating costs. Nearly $3 million is sought for computer and radio fixes for sheriff's deputies and at the county's juvenile detention facility.

But the hammer, the ax, the scythe, pick your metaphor, is looming. The state budget won't likely be finalized until after the county's board of commissioners approves its budget in June. Under the current thinking, much of the state budget's harshest effects won't be felt until the fiscal year starting in July 2012, the second year of the biennium. While drawing up their budget requests, county managers had to insert placeholder figures for state funding.

"The state's budget is likely to have a large (but currently unknown) impact on health and human services programs," writes the county's budget director, Karyne Kieta.

Cogen has set aside $5.6 million to help prolong and wind down any reduced or eliminated programs. He's also hoarded millions more in contingency and reserve funds, instead of seeding one-time projects at the level the county has funded them in previous years. He's also asked union employees to give up raises alongside managers, pledging to use those savings to blunt cuts.

Click here, here, and here to download your own PDFs of the county's budget documents.