Mayor Sam Adams has released his brutal budget this morning at city hall. Permitting, arts and the police bureau have taken brutal cuts. In total, 115 positions will be cut at the city.
- ADAMS: FACED THE MU$IC
The mayor plans to cut 50 jobs from the police bureau over the next two years—mainly back office positions, but including 16 cops—the entire mounted patrol unit. Meanwhile, he’s also preserved $2million in funding for Leonard’s so-called “secret list” program.
The mayor saved one fire station from closure, and has added $3.8million to homeless services for housing shelter services, and $600,000 for Sun Schools, the Summer Youth Connect Program, and a summer scholarship fund.
“We will all hear a lot of pushback about mounted patrol,” he said. “I’m cutting mounted patrol, but I think keeping fire stations open is more important. While the horse patrol is valuable, it’s not important as other programs to reduce recidivism, which are still funded.”
He also only funded $100,000 for new video cameras in police cars to video police interactions with citizens, even though the bureau requested $5million for that. Instead, Adams loaned $5million for a new computer system in Randy Leonard’s Bureau of Environmental Services.
“The proposal made at the budget committee is that it will save money by upgrading an outdated computer system,” said Adams. “So we’re making a loan to them, but they have to put together a business plan for that.”
The line item is “included as a placeholder,” says Andrew Scott from the Office of Management and Finance. “But that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily going to happen.”
Couldn’t the mayor have loaned $5million to the police bureau, because the city could have saved money on lawsuits by videoing the cops?
“I’d like to bring some more facts to that, I’m not claiming that video is a panacea but I’m hoping it might help. I’m ready to make significant investments, but if that’s a loan then I’m happy to do that,” he said.
The mayor is also making five policy layoffs in his office. “Five hard working people that will be losing their jobs, but the mayor’s office is not immune,” he said.
And the symphony is not going to New York. “I’ve told [the Regional Arts And Culture Council] that they have to find within their own resources contributions to the Creative Advocacy Network,” he said. “We actually had a much longer list from local advocacy groups, but none of those are being funded.”
The mayor plans to cut $5.3million from next year’s projected $368.5million annual general fund discretionary budget.
The mayor will now produce a printed budget, there’s a hearing on May 19 in city council, and then council will vote to approve it a week later on May 26.
Mounted Patrol is rather archaic as it is. Bike cops are way more useful and don’t shit on the street (I hope)
I had dinner with Carlos Kalmar, the conductor of the symphony, last night. Something interesting about the invitation to Carnegie that I hadn’t picked up on before was that there WAS a nationwide competition, and Portland was one of eight cities selected. But it WASN’T a competition for musical talent – the competition was in selecting what to play. We turned in our song selection, and ‘won’ based only on that.
I’m with Abusive on this one. Turns out bikes are a lot cheaper to maintain than horses, too.
Matt, can you clarify your phrasing “The mayor saved one fire station from closure…”
Are they still closing others? Did he ‘only save one of the many facing closure’ or was there just one, and he saved it?
And when your bike breaks, you don’t have to shoot it.
@tk: I always shoot my broken bikes. It’s better than letting them suffer.
The only thing I regret about the mounted patrol being cut is that my 3 year old daughter LOVES to go on bike rides to see the horse paddock down by the river. But from a policy standpoint, seems like a good move.
What do you use for that, Graham, snake shot? Something bigger, maybe?
Randy Leonard has the Bureau of DEVELOPMENT Services. The Bureau of ENVIRONMENTAL Services is in Saltzman’s portfolio.
I’d play the world’s tiniest violin, but there’s no money in the budget to do so.
The rimshot has also been cut due to financial limitations.
@ Reymont:
Symphony orchestras do not play “songs.”
@Jim Lee – Well, they are basically a cover band, right?
How about stopping tax breaks to developers to build ugly condos?
I am really happy to see additional funding for the SUN programs.
Having read through a couple of criminology books, I honestly believe that those summer and after-school programs will prevent a lot more crime than the mounted police ever would (especially since studies show that mounted and/or foot patrol have no measurable effect on crime reduction and double especially true if you look at the long term effect of keeping kids involved in positive activities during the vulnerable times when they might be doing less savory things.)
but wait, what are they going to use to bully protesters? oh, thats right; bikes, bully clubs, guns, tazers, racial epithets…etc, etc. how could i forget?
i am really glad to know that horses will not be used and abused by the ppd anymore.
@Reymont, spot on. Spot. On.