FILE - Mayor Keith Wilson delivers his state of the city address on April 17, 2026, at Portland State University in Portland, Ore.
Saskia Hatvany / OPB
Early last week, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson proposed a slew of cuts to address the city’s anticipated $172 million budget shortfall.
They include putting nearly 150 jobs, as well as 30% of Portland’s homeless shelter budget, on the chopping block.
The mayor also said he wouldn’t cut sworn police officers or investigators, and would protect fire stations, community centers and parks from closure. The proposed cuts call for less frequent maintenance of city parks and a reduction in parks staff.
He joined OPB’s “Think Out Loud” to talk about what his proposed cuts — what he called “the hardest thing he’s ever done” in his career — would mean for Portland.
Responses have been edited for brevity and clarity.
On cutting public safety positions, keeping others
“We went into every meeting saying, ‘Clean streets and safe places.’ That’s our goal. … We didn’t want to close a single [fire] station because we want those responders to be there … We didn’t cut a single patrol officer or investigator because those sworn officers take three years from the time you hire before they’re trained and they’re fully operational.
“The only reduction in Portland Street Response, which I think is a very valuable program, is one aftercare team. … And then when you think about [the] Office of Violence Prevention, we took a strategic cut, but it’s not gonna be a terminal or fatal cut. Then we’re gonna build it back in the future as our revenue starts to increase.”
Responding to pushback from fire, police unions
“I understand their alarm … But I’m also looking at the numbers, and I’m looking at the overall reduction in 911 calls. Because we’re reducing the need for calls, we’ve reduced the unsheltered homelessness on our street. We’ve reduced the pressure for those calls. We look at it as a system. … And that’s what I’m focused on, is reducing the burden on our public safety system overall …
“We’re not going to be less safe. We have to continue a faster response time. It’s gonna be a challenge and that’s where I’m looking at the fire chief and the police chief. We’re gonna have to be creative in our approach and it’s not about doing more with less. It’s about doing things differently. … We’re gonna have to do better, but we’re gonna have to do it right now with lower funding as we build the city back.”
Cutting the shelter budget while seeking long-term funding
“[The cut] will result in closures of shelters, but it’s going to require us to be very creative with the funding we have. The good thing is that our team built a flexible system. … When we need additional capacity, we can flex up just as fast now.
“We have been working on housing [homeless] individuals. We’ve reunified 400 people to 45 different states. We’ve begun arresting those on the street. … Every time that we make that opportunity to either house somebody with a family member, or bring them into the justice system so they can address what’s keeping them on the street, it takes the pressure off of the system.
“I’ve been working with Washington County, Clackamas County, the governor [and] our state Legislature. So once we finish this budget … then we begin the hard and important work of starting finding sustainable funding. … There’s no easy answer other than the work never ends with finding funding to care for priority programs.”
Attracting more businesses could help fix city’s budget woes
“It’s businesses failing and families leaving. Why? When they have their windows constantly [broken], people living in their corridors, customers not walking in, it’s very difficult for a business to succeed. … We’re fixing those fundamental things, but we’re also … putting money into attracting businesses or opening up vacant storefronts. …
“That’s gonna bring those businesses back … then get property taxes going on the north, getting business license taxes going north, transient and lodging taxes coming back in. Those are basic to funding our government. So it’s getting back to basics of, let’s get the revenues increasing instead of falling.”
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson spoke to “Think Out Loud” host Dave Miller. Click play to listen to the full conversation:
