Portland city councilors this week are meeting to discuss amendments to Mayor Keith Wilson’s proposed budget. The city is working to address a $160 million budget gap, and the proposed amendments seek to hold onto union jobs and instead cut management jobs, stop Wilson’s proposal to divert Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF) dollars to other city programs, and move $10 million from a fledgling police oversight board to the Portland Police Bureau and Portland Fire and Rescue. On Monday, the City Council convened as the budget committee and as the Prosper Portland budget committee for six hours of hearings and testimony. Tuesday’s meeting kicks off with public safety amendments.
Here are the highlights from the meetings.
Tuesday AM: Public Safety
Morillo Amendment 1: Community Health and Safety
The first amendment the Council is discussing was proposed by District 3 Councilor Angelita Morillo. It would take dollars from Wilson’s proposal to add over $2.5 million in councilors’ security services, and move $1.5 million to the Office of Violence Prevention and the Ceasefire program, $211,000 to parks events, and restore jobs to CHAT and Portland Street Response, the city’s unarmed crisis response teams.
At City Administrator Raymond Lee’s request, the security team testified, saying last year’s budget was used up by an increase in security threats, adding it needed the additional dollars to continue the same level of security provided last year. Morillo said the security team was being over-utilized and noted that security may not need to expand from four agents to 10. “People are using it for anything and everything,” Morillo said.
The discussion led to councilors outlining various security incidents they had experienced over the past year.
District 2 Councilor Dan Ryan said he appreciated the security staff’s quick response during incidents at his home during his time in office, saying multiple people trespassed on his property, and damaged his home in 2020 and 2021.
District 4 Councilor Eric Zimmerman said he is motivated to vote for higher security staff due to a handful of incidents over the past year, including protests at City Hall during which a demonstrator crossed a barrier and approached the Council dais.
“If this body can’t work, if this body is under threat, then the security of this new body is under threat,” Zimmerman said. Morillo and District 2 Councilor Sameer Kanal used public security more frequently than other councilors, Zimmerman noted.
District 3 Councilor Tiffany Koyama Lane expressed gratitude for the security team, saying her family and community have been threatened by right-wing streamers, including at an event she participated in for Portland’s Japanese American community.
“I don’t want anyone to think that if there’s an emergency then we would not respond to that emergency,” Lee said. He added that if there’s a later need, the city would need to assess how else it might respond if the security office budget is not funded.
District 1 Councilor Candace Avalos said she had received a threat from someone saying they hoped her house would burn down, one week prior to a fire at her home the morning of October 26, 2025. The fire caused significant damage to her home, and a suspect was later arrested. The fire turned out to be an accident by a man trying to use an electrical outlet to plug in a heater.
This amendment passed in an 8-4 vote. Councilors Kanal, Pirtle-Guiney, Koyama Lane, Morillo, Novick, Green, Avalos, and Dunpy voted yes. Ryan, Clark, Zimmerman, and Smith voted no.
Clark, Pirtle-Guiney, Novick, Ryan & Smith Amendment 1: Public Safety Programs Restoration
This amendment was proposed by Council Vice President Olivia Clark (District 4), District 2 Councilors Elana Pirtle-Guiney and Dan Ryan, District 3 Councilor Steve Novick, and District 1 Councilor Loretta Smith. It would divert $10 million from a police oversight board Office of Community Police Accountability (OCPA) and move it—through a city facilities fund—to other public safety programs, including those under the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) and Portland Fire and Rescue. By law, the voter-enacted program is to receive funding proportional to 5 percent of PPB’s annual budget. Clark said it was a “common sense approach.”
The amendment would have moved those dollars to these programs:
• CHAT Program ($500,000)
• Station 22 Engine ($2.5 million)
• Fire Rescue vehicles ($1.65 million)
• PPB Precinct Administration ($1.59 million restore plus $150,000 for an additional Police Administrative Support Specialist)
• Victims’ services Unit ($300,000)
• PS3 program ($1.7 million)
• EM&S including training for PPB ($1.7 million)
Jonas Biery, the city’s financial officer, said the funding would be used as a bridge fund and paid back over the course of the year. That’s because an original version of the amendment could have violated the city charter by moving money directly from the accountability office. The OCPA is expected to underspend its funding this year, and any underspent amount would go back to the facilities fund in a fall budget adjustment. Avalos said it was a nonstarter.
“I think this is a slap in the face of the voters, I think it’s a slap in the face of police accountability,” Avalos said.
She added that she felt then-Commissioner Ryan—now a District 2 councilor—delayed the implementation of the office that voters approved in 2020. Ryan took issue with that assertion.
“Most voters and taxpayers would not support us sitting on funds while we cut police and fire—two systems that show up and handle the most complex criminal and tragic rescue efforts,” Ryan said.
Kanal said he and other colleagues opposed to the amendment continue to remind their colleagues that 82 percent of voters passed the measure to create the accountability office, “because some of you keep forgetting.”
He added that the current version could set up the city to violate the charter in the future, because the OCPA is supposed to have independent judgement authority, including for its budget.
“Accountability is a core aspect of public safety, and specific to policing, accountable policing is effective policing,” Kanal said.
Clark said her motivation was not to hurt the accountability board, adding that she was trying to restore what Portlanders need and want in public safety.
“I am pure in my motivations,” Clark said.
The amendment failed in a 6-6 vote. Councilors Pirtle-Guiney, Ryan, Novick, Clark, Zimmerman, Smith voted yes. Kanal, Koyama Lane, Morillo, Green, Avalos, Dunphy voted no.
Tuesday PM: Public Safety (Continued)
Kanal 2: Save St. Johns Fire Engine
The amendment would pull $2.5 million from the Business License Tax reserve to fund the St. Johns firetruck. Chief Financial Officer Jonas Biery said the amendment, if passed, could impact the city’s credit rating, saying that one of the first things the rating agency looks at is the city’s reserve balance.
“We’ve seen those reserves go from 20 percent in the general fund side in 2023 to 17 percent to 15 percent the last couple of years,” Biery said.
District 4 Councilor Mitch Green noted that the ongoing deal with the Moda Center and the Portland Trail Blazers’ new owner Tom Dundon could foreseeably impact the Business License Tax.
“That number is going to be between $40 and $50 million,” Green said.
The amendment passed in a 7-4 vote. Councilors Kanal, Koyama Lane, Morillo, Green, Avalos, Smith, and Dunphy voted yes. Ryan, Novick, Clark, and Zimmerman voted no. Pirtle-Guiney was absent.
Green Amendments 1 & 4: Portland Fire & Rescue First
Green proposed a pair of related amendments that he calls “chop from the top”—an old time union worker adage—which would pull $3.3 million in general contingency funds to restore Fire Station 22 in the St. Johns neighborhood. It would also fund $825K to restore one Advanced Life Support Team. Green proposed a budget note outlining the legislative intent, saying it would direct Wilson’s administration to identify management cuts to account for the contingency funds and propose those cuts during next Fall’s budget adjustment.
At 2:10 p.m., Green’s budget note passed with a 9-3 vote, but the underlying amendment (Green 1) immediately following that vote failed in a 6-6 tie. Now, it’s a budget note that may need some reworking before the Fall budget adjustment.
“The more managers you have, the more meetings you have,” Green told the Mercury after the vote. “And the more meetings you have, the more managers you have.”
Here’s how it got there.
“This is a sustainable ongoing replacement to trim the overextension of management ranks at the top,” Green said when he introduced his amendment Tuesday.
Green held a large cardboard printout in the chambers, demonstrating that management growth has vastly outpaced non-management roles in the city’s government since 2019.
Green said the amendment would restore Fire Station 22, and allow the city administrator 90 days to analyze the city’s organization chart and find places to cut upper management positions.
Wilson addressed the notion of “chop from the top.”
“Reducing painful cuts to disrespectful slogans does a disservice to the city employees who spent their careers dedicated to their community, dedicated to you in this process that we’re at right now,” Wilson said.
Smith added further context, saying she wants to fund all public safety bureaus, including in East and North Portland. She said the amendment was reckless, and warned that the Council should be careful about how it governs.
“This is an attempt to take down city government,” Smith said. “Chopping from the top is not realistic.”
Koyama Lane passionately defended the proposal, saying as a unionist, the term “chop from the top” are “not dirty words.”
“This amendment demonstrates that we are listening to our workers who are asking for a more balanced approach to staffing,” Koyama Lane said.
Clark argued that her previous amendments would have also restored the fire station—noting the importance to the Critical Energy Infrastructure (CEI) Hub, which sits in her district along the Willamette River.
Speaking in support of the amendment, Morillo likened the city’s core realignment measures—an ongoing effort to realign staffing classifications across the city government—to the federal government’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts.
“The comparison here that we should protect management growth of 33 percent over frontline staff of 8 percent, and that one is somehow a terrible option versus another, I think, is very disingenuous.”
Ryan, whose District 2 includes the fire station, said he wants to restore funding but would have preferred the Council fund the station through Clark’s $10 million amendment, which failed earlier in the day. He outlined the stakes of cutting the fire station, as proposed in Wilson’s budget.
“Cutting services to a station at the northern border, that expands along the terminals and the far north that allow us to be a global trading partner, to the CEI Hub, across the bridge along Forest Park from Linnton, all the way out to Scappoose, to the Columbia County border, that was a mistake,” Ryan said.
Green 1 failed in a 6-6 tie. Councilors Kanal, Koyama Lane, Morillo, Green, Avalos, and Dunphy voted yes. Pirtle-Guiney, Ryan, Novick, Clark, Zimerman and Smith voted no.
Novick Amendment 2: Restore Public Safety Frontline Staff
Novick proposed an amendment to add $2.5 million to public safety programs, victims services and Ceasefire program grants. It would move $1.8 million from the city administrator’s office budget, $1.8 million from councilors’ office with the exception of District 1, and pull nearly $1 million from the council security budget under Wilson’s proposal.
“Now we’re really having fun,” Clark said. She added that if her amendment had passed, the discussion of Novick’s amendment would not be necessary. Clark remained concerned about pulling funding from the city administrators office, but supported the general aims of the amendment.
The amendment failed in an 3-8 vote. Councilors Koyama Lane, Novick, and Green voted yes. Kanal, Ryan, Morillo, Clark, Zimmerman, Avalos, Smith, and Dunphy voted no. Pirtle-Guiney was absent.
Pirtle-Guiney 6 & 7: Public Safety Programs Restoration
Together, these amendments would restore $6.5 million in funding for fire rescues, Portland Police Bureau precinct administration, while restoring public safety specialist positions, and training for emergency medical specialists.
It would do so by cutting councilors’ office budgets, and—similar to a joint proposal from five councilors earlier in the day—would transfer contingency funds that would be repaid by underspending in the police oversight office. They would also save $628,000 in cost of living adjustments, cut a city operations analyst position.
“I truly believe that Portlanders don’t want to see us leave money that we know we will be reallocating a few months from now to whatever hole happens to be there then, or whatever pet project happens to be there then,” Pirtle-Guiney said. “We can continue to fund core frontline services that people rely on for safety. We can do it quickly, we can move it now.”
The discussion moved fast, as Council President Jamie Dunphy (District 1) noted the Council is supposed to address the Prosper Portland budget today as well.
Pirtle-Guiney 7 failed in a 6-6 vote. Councilors Pirtle-Guiney, Ryan, Novick, Clark, Zimmerman, and Smith voted yes. Kanal, Koyama Lane, Morillo, Green, Avalos, Dunphy voted no. Pirtle-Guiney 6 failed in a 4-8 vote. Pirtle-Guiney, Ryan, Novick, Clark voted yes. Kanal, Koyama Lane, Morillo, Green, Zimmerman, Avalos, Smith, and Dunphy voted no.
Ryan 1: Restore Community Health Assess and Treat Program Reduction
Ryan pulled back an amendment to restore funding to Portland Fire & Rescue’s CHAT program because it was funded through other means. He proposed Ryan 2, which was not made publicly available, and failed in a 4-8 vote.
Novick Amendment 4: Protecting Public Safety by Cutting Overhead, is expected after a new analysis due to previous amendments that passed and addressed similar issues.
Kanal 5b: Fund Frontline Community Health 2
Kanal’s initial proposal was intended to fund CHAT as well, but with Morillo’s amendment passing earlier in the day, he changed some language to move the same amount of money to save hours of operation for two-person rescues. It would reduce the city administrator’s office budget that funds the Portland Solutions shelters by $1.65 million.
Portland Solutions Director Skyler Brocker-Knapp said that would impact recovery beds at Bybee Lakes and other shelter beds. What opioid dollars can be used for is interpreted broadly, but must be relevant to opioid use recovery.
Wilson said the 30 percent reduction from the sheltering system to pay for public safety programs like PSR and CHAT has already impacted the shelter continuum.
“If we take this money, we’re only going to put more pressure on an already underfunded public safety response system,” Wilson said. “We’ve built a continuum in the city. This last year has shown has shown the improvements we’ve made and the hope we’ve restored.”
Koyama Lane said her district wants the shelters to continue operating, and she was open to finding compromises with colleagues.
“I hear this conversation of compromise, and I don’t think that conversation is happening off the dais,” Koyama Lane said.
Kanal said if he had known that Wilson would propose closing shelter beds, he would have made sure that didn’t happen.
“Had I been told before the deadline and had the ability to change it, that this was going to be earmarked in the least politically positive way—as a reduction to shelter beds—I would have ensured there was a note written there that said ‘do not defund Bybee Lakes, or the Grand Recovery,” Kanal said.
Kanal 5b failed in a 6-6 tie. Councilors Kanal, Koyama Lane, Morillo, Green, Avalos, and Dunphy voted yes. Pirtle-Guiney, Ryan, Novick, Clark, Zimmerman, Smith voted no.
Tuesday PM: Prosper Portland budget
The City Council is now discussing amendments pertaining to Prosper Portland’s budget, which is separate from the regular city budget. The public safety amendments took up most of the day, leaving little time for amendments on other topics.
Unrelated to the amendments, both Green and Kanal spoke up to dispel rumors apparently circulating in City Hall about a supposed plan to reallocate funds away from Prosper Portland during this budget cycle. They both said they are not planning to do that, and asked the mayor and deputy city administrators to talk to them directly before sounding the alarm.
Pirtle-Guiney 1: Transfer Council Office Funds to FY 2026-27 for Prosper Portland Workforce Development Programming
Pirtle-Guiney proposed transferring $100,000 from her own office to Prosper Portland to restore workforce development program cuts. The amendment was approved 11-0 (Koyama Lane was absent), though some councilors griped about having to vote on it at all, as councilors have typically been able to move money from their offices without putting it up for a vote.
Smith 1: Add General Fund Resources to SummerWorks Program
Smith proposed moving $532,000 in cannabis tax contingency funds to the SummerWorks Youth Employment Initiative, a program that helps place local youth in summer jobs to help them gain important work experience and develop other skills. The amendment was approved with 12 votes, though some councilors were concerned about pulling from the relatively small pot of cannabis tax reserve funds. Cannabis tax revenues, which are intended to fund drug and alcohol treatment, public safety investments, and small business support, have declined in recent years.
“I just want to get some clarification on something. When I see contingency, I think the money that’s available for emergencies,” Novick said, then joked: “If this was the only fund we have to deal with a situation where a bunch of stoned people desperately need pizza, I don’t want to cut it.”
Avalos 2: Support Immigration Affairs Liaison and Immigrant Community Response Resources
Avalos’ amendment proposes moving the Immigration Affairs Liaison position from the mayor’s office to the city administrator’s office, and reallocating some funds from Prosper Portland’s downtown storefront support initiative to “support immigrant and refugee community response efforts.”
“This amendment is about ensuring that the city has the capacity to respond to a very real humanitarian and community crisis unfolding in front of us right now. In East Portland, especially, immigrant and refugee families are living with enormous fear and instability,” Avalos said. “People are watching loved ones disappear into federal detention. Beloved small business owners are being taken from their communities, and children are afraid their parents may not come home. At moments and moments like this, communities need more than statements, they need coordination, support, communication, and visible institutional commitment.”
After substantial dialogue between councilors, which reflected some confusion about the funding source for the amendment, Avalos withdrew it. She plans to bring it back tomorrow, along with answers to some of her colleagues’ questions.
The amendment later failed in a 6-6 tie. Councilors Kanal, Koyama Lane, Morillo, Green, Avalos, and Dunphy voted yes. Pirtle-Guiney, Ryan, Novick, Clark, Zimmerman, and Smith voted no.
Dunphy 1: Civic Life Realignment and Neighborhood Prosperity Network Funding Preservation
Dunphy’s amendment intends to move almost $200,000 in funding for a new coordinator position in the Office of Community and Civic Life toward Prosper Portland’s Neighborhood Prosperity Network program. The Neighborhood Prosperity Network is intended to support community economic development in neighborhood commercial districts, and it’s taken a hit in the mayor’s proposed budget.
Dunphy said the amendment “prioritizes community partnerships by keeping resources flowing to the people already helping East Portland from the ground up.” He specified that the reallocated funding wouldn’t cut an existing job, but Civic Life leaders said they could use the new coordinator job for budget engagement, town halls, and other community engagement work. The amendment was approved unanimously.
City Council recessed for the day. Budget discussions resumed Wednesday, May 20, at 9:30 am. The Mercury‘s continuing coverage is here.
