The number, by now, should be drilled into each and every one of our pretty little heads: To balance Portland’s general fund budget over the next five years, city council, this spring, must find $25 million in spending cuts. (Or in new revenues, too. Technically. But who the hell are we kidding here?)
To get there, Mayor Charlie Hales told all the city bureaus, even before he took office, that they’d to take a 10 percent cut off the top and then make a convincing case to the entire council for whatever they wanted to add back. If that’s hard to visualize, some charts posted by the city’s budget office should help.
Cutting 10 percent from general fund budgets will actually shave $38 million in total spending—more than the deficit the council needs to close. Which means, after going through their budget-cutting exercise, bureaus will be left to fight for their shares of just more than $13 million in scraps.
Take a look!
Where is PBOT’s paving budget in the above list? Seems like there is a big chunk of PBOT budget missing in the above table.
I’m guessing the “Excluded Targets” represents projects that are exempt from the 10% haircut exercise. Is that entirely paving budget? If so, does that represent an increase from previous FY?
If paving is as important as Hales’ advocates he should let it fight the fair fight in the add-back package, instead of being protected. There are many programs that are arguably as important as paving included in the cut list.
Then again maybe paving isn’t consider a discretionary item… being funded with gas tax. If so, does anyone know how the budgeting process is occurring for paving and other non-general fund budget items?
Thanks Sam Adams!
Thanks alot.
That chart is only of the General Fund, very little which of goes to PBOT (the big exception is that a small chunk of the General Fund pays the streetlight power bill). Paving is mostly paid for by Gas Tax Revenue (GTR). For a breakdown of the complicated maze of PBOT funding…
http://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportati…
Also check out the City Budget Office website…
http://www.portlandoregon.gov/cbo
This city sure was well-run for the last four years.
I know people here are generally allergic to the Oregonian, but here is a good article on the City Auditor’s recent reaming of the transportation bureau, that includes info on where the budget is going these days:
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.s…
Just remember that even though the budgets start at the bureaus, with managers and Budget Advisory Councils working through their suggestions for what to spend money on, it is ultimately the Council that decides the priorities and what line items the money is ultimately spent on (e.g. paving and bike lanes vs. streetcars and bridges). Last year’s PBOT budget that was submitted to Council in early February looked a lot different after the sausage-making at City Hall was done and it was gaveled to approval in late May. It is like that every year.