In the bloodbath that always comes with the final weeks of a legislative session, meaningful tax reform saw the guillotine early. On June 22, leaders in the Oregon house and senate announced alongside Governor Kate Brown that their best attempts for hiking taxes on corporations had died a dispiriting death. Facing pushback from the business […]
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A New Corporate Tax in Portland Could Raise $51 Million a Year for Renewable Energy, Jobs Training
Henglein and Steets via Getty Images As a coalition of Portland cultural and climate change groups plots a new business tax to pay for renewable energy projects, the city’s number crunchers are urging caution. In a report issued earlier this month, the city’s Revenue Division says a single company could wind up paying more than […]
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Sheriff Mike Reese Considered Saving Portland’s Horse Cops
Kurt McRobert When Portland City Council adopted its budget for next fiscal year on June 8, the final funerary knell tolled for the Portland Police Bureau’s Mounted Patrol Unit. After years of putting the city’s horse cops up on the chopping block in budget proposals—often comfortable in the notion that actually slashing it would be […]
Posted inHousing
City Council Allocates $800,000 to Prop Up Portland’s Public Golf Courses
The City of Portland’s RedTail Golf Course City of Portland Amid a litany of pressing needs that face this city, it was Portland’s publicly owned golf courses getting a bailout from Portland City Council this morning. It turns out that apart from bumming everyone out, the intense winter and spring rains further dampened revenue in […]
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Portland Might Spend Between $100 Million and $500 Million to Prevent a Water Parasite It’s No Longer Detecting
Bull Run Lake, where your water comes from. City of Portland When Portland City Council considers how to treat the city’s water for low levels of a common parasite later this month, it will mull over projects that could increase water bills by 1.3 percent or more. That “reasonably decent number,” presented with a host […]
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A Tiny Parasite Is Probably Going to Cost Water Customers Tens of Millions
The Bull Run Watershed: Now with more poop. City of Portland You’ve now got two new treatment plants potentially coming to your water bill, Portland. The Portland Water Bureau (PWB) announced this morning it will finally need to treat the city’s water supply for a microscopic, poop-loving organism called Cryptosporidium, at a price tag that […]
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Voters Just Passed a Record-Setting Bond for Portland Public Schools
It appears Portland voters have passed the largest bond measure in state history—a $790 million property tax bond designed to eliminate lead and copper exposure in Portland Public Schools and complete major renovations and replacements. The first tally of the night, just after polls closed at 8 pm, showed the bond measure leading with roughly […]
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After a Budget Clash, Mayor Ted Wheeler is Looking for More Money to Battle Homelessness
Doug Brown As he prepares to pass an “approved” budget for the coming fiscal year tomorrow, Mayor Ted Wheeler is on the hunt for more cash to fight homelessness. It’s still too early to say where the money will come from, but Wheeler’s office tells the Mercury that after a meeting with Multnomah County Chair […]
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Will Portlanders Slap Limits On Campaign Contributions? Progressive Groups Plan to Find Out
Reformers had an easy time last year convincing Multnomah County voters to put limits on campaign contributions for county races. Now they’re hoping to make the same plea at the city level—even as the legality of their reforms remains an open question. Months after more than 88 percent of voters approved Measure 26-184, which strictly […]
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Portland’s New Gas Tax Is Raking in More Than Expected
ccpixs.com It’s too early to make any broad pronouncements, but worth noting that the four-year, 10-cent-per-gallon gas tax Portlanders approved in November is outperforming projections. Former City Commissioner Steve Novick and his partners in a broad coalition sold the tax on a promise that it would raise $16 million per year—a little more than half […]
Posted inCity Hall
Wheeler’s First Budget Pushes Maintenance, Camp Cleanups, and More.
Ted Wheeler lays out his budget plan at City Hall this morning. Dirk VanderHart Sketching a future that includes increased cleanups of homeless camps and hundreds of millions in infrastructure projects, Mayor Ted Wheeler laid out his priorities for the $515.6 million discretionary swath of the city’s general fund today. Where last year Mayor Charlie […]
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Ted Wheeler’s First Budget Will Include $18.6 Million In Surplus Cash
It’s too soon to say whether Mayor Ted Wheeler’s got any tricks in store on Monday, when the new mayor will release his first city budget ever. We’ve been told not to expect any hijinks like Charlie Hales’ surprise, ill-fated business tax hike from last year. But we do know the numbers Wheeler is dealing […]