Portland Mayor Keith Wilson lays out his budget priorities

The City of Portland is facing a $172 million budget shortfall for various reasons, including declining tax revenue, inflation, expiration of pandemic-era funds and increased healthcare costs. Mayor Keith Wilson shared a proposal last week that would cut nearly 150 jobs and make cuts to public safety, parks, transportation and resources for people experiencing homelessness. Mayor Wilson has said this has been one of the hardest things he’s done in his career. He joins us now to share more on his budget proposal and the financial future of the city.

Note: The following transcript was transcribed digitally and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.

Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. Last week, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson released his proposed budget for the coming year. With the city facing an anticipated $172 million budget shortfall, he is calling for a lot of cuts, nearly 150 jobs and slashes to funding for public safety, homelessness, and parks and recreation. His proposal does protect fire stations, community centers, and parks from closure, and there would not be cuts to police officers or investigators. But Wilson has said that this budget writing process was the hardest thing he’s ever done in his career. Mayor Wilson joins us now. It’s good to have you back on the show.

Mayor Keith Wilson: Thank you, Dave. Appreciate the opportunity.

Miller: I want to start with that last line I just mentioned. This is the hardest thing you’ve ever done in your career. Why?

Wilson: Well, I’ve built my career based on building high performing organizations with high standards. This is the antithesis of that. When you think about what we’re challenged with this year, we had a little north of 900 million in continuing service expenses. That’s what it would take to just provide what we were providing last year.

Miller: The status quo.

Wilson: Right. And then we only had 740 or thereabouts as far as revenue to support that. When you think about that gap, and that’s just our general fund. So it’s our discretionary fund.

Miller: There’s much more money.

Wilson: That’s right.

Miller: I don’t know, 10 times more or something that comes in, but it’s earmarked for certain things and so you have way less flexibility in terms of moving it around.

Wilson: That’s right.

Miller: OK.

Wilson: And that general fund, they’re addressing the community safety and the standards that we expect: police, fire, parks, sheltering services. And then you have to make that significant of a cut, the amount of time it took, the amount of weekends, weeknights, discussions with counselors to make sure that we were trying to do as much as we could to address shared priorities, but recognizing it was shared sacrifices, extremely difficult.

Miller: So let’s dig into some of the details, starting with one of the biggest cuts you’re proposing, roughly 30% of the city’s shelter budget, and this is one of your priorities. It’s what you ran on and what you’ve been really focused on in your first year plus as mayor. Will that 30% cut lead to shelter closures just months, in some cases, after some of these were stood up?

Wilson: Yeah. Yes, it will.

Miller: Definitively.

Wilson: It 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. It is not hardwalled capital expenditures where it took three years to build the shelter. We had shelters stood up in a matter of three months in some cases. So some of those shelters will be closing, but it also allows us the flexibility now that we know what we’re doing, when we need additional capacity, we can flex up just as fast now.

Miller: But do you not, I mean, I thought part of your philosophy here is that we do need that additional capacity.

Wilson: Oh, we do.

Miller: So when you say when we do, I mean, you’re saying we do, and we’ll feel this, these will be painful cuts. But if more money comes in, you could increase the number of shelter beds going forward.

Wilson: Yeah, so we built a system that was based on need. We didn’t want to create a fixed cost system. Here’s what we’ve accomplished with the surge we made last year. Now we have been working on housing those individuals. We’ve reunified 400 people to 45 different states. We’ve begun arresting those on the street. We haven’t been going into these encampments with law enforcement in a decade. And so we have made 300 arrests. 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 have vacancies tonight, and so any Portlander who needs a safe night sleeps, who’s ready to come inside, we’re ready for them. That system need has been falling. And so we’re able to make strategic cuts to address it.

Miller: You say that the system need has been falling, but the number of homeless people in the area, in the county, is higher than it’s ever been.

Wilson: Yeah, that may be the case. I’m not certain of where the numbers are, [or] whether the case may be. It’s about if you’re ready to come in tonight, we’ve got a bed ready for you.

Miller: So in the first year, the shelter plan was funded by a lot of different community partners, including Multnomah County, Metro, and the state. This year, my understanding is that Metro and the tri-counties declined to hand over shelter money to the city. A program, it can’t be successful if funding for it yo-yos around. And if this is going to mainly be funded by the city going forward and the state as well – the state is going to, that’s in your budget, some state money – but if it’s mainly going to be on the city’s shoulders, what’s your plan for this to be sustainable long term?

Wilson: It’s shared priorities with a regional focus. I’ve been working with Washington County, Clackamas County, the governor, our state legislature. So once we finish this budget, which is funded right now, and we’ll have to make some cuts, then we begin the hard and important work of starting, finding sustainable funding, and we’ve already begun that process.

Miller: But I guess that’s my question. How much, as you were crafting this proposed budget for the coming year, have you been thinking about the year after that? So there’s not another yo-yo where you have to do the same thing again, or it goes way up and then way down and way up. How much are you thinking about future years, as you’re planning this current difficult year?

Wilson: It’s so funny. I met with the mayor’s office in Salt Lake City two months ago and I had a conversation with Karen Bass, who’s the LA mayor, and they go through the same thing every year. And it’s a part of the process of being mayor is to try and find funding for those programs you need to make and/or fund. And so, Dave, there’s no easy answer other than the work never ends with finding funding to care for priority programs.

Miller: But, so are you saying that you and your counterparts around the West, that you can’t really focus on two years from now because there’s an emergency now?

Wilson: Unfortunately, with shelter funding, there’s no evergreen process. The county has the SHS. Portland doesn’t get a penny of that. Generally, we get funding from the state, but there was some discrepancies with the state. So we didn’t get our normal allocation this year. We will most likely get it next year.

Miller: That’s supportive housing tax. That’s one of the tax…

Wilson: And that goes to the county. So the city doesn’t enjoy any of those funds.

Miller: So let’s turn to another big part of general fund expenditures and another area of cuts, public safety. Under your proposal, you did not eliminate, as I mentioned briefly in my intro, a single police officer position or investigator position, meaning traditional armed police response, rank and file police officers, but you would make significant cuts to other aspects of the public safety system, various unarmed positions, public safety support specialists, Portland Street Response, the gun violence prevention program, and crime victim services. Why? How did you decide on that split, keeping rank and file police officers, but cutting some of these other related aspects of the public safety system?

Wilson: Well if you give me a moment, it really allows me to tell you the why, how did we do this? Our main focus was our mission. We went into every meeting saying clean streets and safe places. That’s our goal. That’s the foundation we allow this city to be built upon and recover. And so we talked about those four programs. We took fire. We didn’t want to close a single station because we want those responders to be there when you’re ready. Police, 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.

To answer your question regarding the public safety support specialists, we took an 80% cut, because those are important aspects. It’s a new program that we’re still formulating and building the practices behind. So it’s not fundamentally sound yet. Now we are going to go all in, but we took that cut to really re-envision the program to build it back. But we need those priority responders, which are the sworn officers. We couldn’t allow that to fall down because when somebody needs an officer in their worst time of need, we had to respond with that officer.

Miller: Is this a fair way to put it, that you’re not saying that those programs aren’t important, but in a cuts budget, they are less important than the positions you’re choosing to keep whole?

Wilson: Yeah, that’s right, Dave. We had to get back to basics. I’d like to just talk about Portland Street Response. The only reduction in Portland Street Response, which I think is a very valuable program, is one aftercare team. Now I’m sad that that’s the case, but we are keeping the pillar at Portland Street Response fully funded. And then when you think about the Office of Violence Prevention, we took a strategic cut, but it’s not going to be a terminal or fatal cut. Then we’re gonna build it back in the future as our revenue starts to increase, because it’s kind of like year one in our recovery. But then we’re going to build back as revenues increase in the out years.

Miller: Even though you’re not cutting rank and file police or fire positions, their unions are pushing back. The police union president said that cuts would do generational damage. The fire union president said that Portlanders will be less safe under your budget proposal. What’s your response?

Wilson: I understand their alarm, and I am as well. That’s why it was one of the most difficult things I’ve done. 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. My overall goal is to reduce the need for them to be called out. And that’s what I’m focused on is reducing the burden on our public safety system overall, and we’re experiencing that reduction.

Miller: Am I putting words in your mouth to say that, because I’m wondering about your response to that fire union president comment, that Portlanders will be less safe under your budget proposal. Are you prepared to say, yes, I agree? Overall, these cuts will lead to a decrease in public safety, but the money has to be cut from somewhere.

Wilson: We’re not going to be less safe. Our response times are not going to be the same level. It’s difficult to talk safety. I have to look in terms of what we’re doing to achieve community safety. Our drug arrests are way up. When we look at downtown, our drug arrests are up 71%, in Old Town 171%. We’re taking the pressure off of the overall system so the system can respond when they’re called upon. 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. But I had to also take cuts, like you said, to Portland Street Response, minimal cuts, and the public safety support system. So we prop up those critical response pillars. I haven’t closed a single fire station, and that was critical to our budget planning.

Miller: But I guess I’m just wondering, if you can make these cuts that will actually lead to tens of millions of dollars of cuts, without affecting public safety, the only thing that logically makes sense to me is that those positions were not important for public safety.

Wilson: No, they’re all important.

Miller: Right, that’s why I’m pushing you on this. If you can say that they’re important, then how will that not have some effect for Portlanders? I mean, among other things, for example, if you get rid of some of the support staff for police officers, even if you’re not cutting rank and file, won’t some of that work have to be done then by rank and file officers?

Wilson: But you have to look at the overall system.

Miller: Right, that’s what I’m trying to do.

Wilson: Yeah, well, when you look at shootings, they’re down to the lowest level in six years. Everything in our city from a public safety standpoint is getting better, homicides are down, all of that. You got to lean in on that.

Miller: I appreciate that you mention that. So that’s another way to talk about this, and you’re saying that the need is down, so if you cut services, then it’s OK, because the need is down.

Wilson: It’s not OK.

Miller: OK.

Wilson: We are not at a level we need to be from a competitive standpoint with the nation. When a priority call for an officer, when I first took office was 22 minutes, we’ve got it now in the 16, 17 minutes. It’s getting better. It’s not acceptable though, because six years ago, it was eight minutes. So we can never be acceptable where we’re at right now. We have got to do better. 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.

Miller: I want to turn to a broader picture here. So for example, for parks, your proposal would cut maintenance at parks by nearly $3 million, including 46 parks and recreation jobs. And you’re not sugarcoating the effects of this. The budget summary says this: “Ultimately, our parks will feel less welcoming and safe.” But I’m imagining there are Portlanders who are saying, wait, I’m paying all these taxes, you’re raising fees. There was a levy for parks and the implicit or explicit promise there was we won’t cut parks. And now you all are talking about or proposing to cut services. What do you say to someone who brings that to you?

Wilson: Well, we wanted a level set and we wanted to be true and we wanted to be honest. Our job is to try and maintain the parks as best we can, but we’re not going to come in and try and sugarcoat it either though, Dave. And so in our subjective analysis on there, we want to say this is going to change, but we’re going to have to really find ways. But notice what we didn’t cut. We didn’t cut community centers and we didn’t cut closures of parks. Now we had to do some minor adjustments, if you will. We didn’t cut parks cleaning of the restrooms and such. Talking with all the counselors, we really leaned in on what they wanted to see. So watering of parks, you’re not gonna see it every night or every two nights, you’re gonna see it every three nights. These are things that you may not see, but you’re going to see over time. But then let’s just keep building back our revenue to get that level of maintenance added back.

Miller: Portland has had budget shortfalls for a few years now, and the reasons have been consistent. Inflation, rising costs in various ways, both at the national level and also things like healthcare or PERS, stagnant or declining revenue, and expiring one-time funds, especially federal funds. What’s your plan for getting out of this cycle?

Wilson: Yeah, well, let’s be a little bit more succinct. 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 is very difficult for a business to succeed. And then when you see that tax rate or livability and safety, when someone’s walking on the street and they’re not able to enjoy the city that they moved to, you can see. So we’re fixing those fundamental things, but we’re also leaning in with some storefront support programs. We’re putting money into attracting businesses or opening up vacant storefronts. If you’re a grocery store, we’re going to give you $100,000 to open. We’re first money in.

Because we believe in Portland, the safety and the livability is returning. If you’re a restaurant, you get $50,000. We’re first money in and retail, $25,000 in for moving into a ground floor vacant storefront, because we trust Portland, we believe in Portland. And so, that’s gonna bring those businesses back to then get property taxes going on the north, getting business license taxes going north, transient and lodging taxes coming back in. Those are basics to funding our government. So it’s getting back to basics of let’s get the revenues increasing instead of falling. And so we see the flywheel reversing and getting in a more positive trend.

Miller: What’s the evidence you see that makes you think that, say for example, I mean, to think just one year from now, that one year will be better for those various metrics you just mentioned?

Wilson: I did a ribbon cutting at OnPoint Credit Union. They just moved their corporate headquarters to downtown Portland. Two weeks ago, we saw downtown office vacancy rates falling for the first time in years, and Portland led the nation with the highest vacancies. It’s starting to come down. People are starting to come out. It just keeps going on. The James Beard Public Market, the Portland Art Museum, the Portland Fire, all of these positive things, these green shoots are starting to happen. And in the next few weeks, I’ve got more announcements on two things. Businesses moving into downtown, taking vacant office spaces, and businesses returning to the office. So you see all these things that are happening. But we got to get through this budget. And that’s what we’re here to talk about.

Miller: Alright, and finally for this budget, last year, city councilors put forward more than 100 amendments to your proposed budget, but in the end, they actually adopted something relatively close to what you put forward. Do you have a sense right now for where the city council is on this year’s proposal?

Wilson: Yeah, I’ve been meeting with them for the last 90 days, privately and in groups, because I wanted their DNA on this budget because it’s going to be difficult. When they go to work on this, they’re going to have to make some very strategic and surgical cuts. But for the most part, the four pillars that I talked about, they’re solid, but they don’t have a whole lot of extra to be trimming away. They’ll make improvements, but their voice and their DNA is already in this budget.

Miller: Mayor Wilson, thanks very much.

Wilson: Yeah, thank you, Dave.

Miller: Keith Wilson is the mayor of Portland.

“Think Out Loud®” broadcasts live at noon every day and rebroadcasts at 8 p.m.

If you’d like to comment on any of the topics in this show or suggest a topic of your own, please get in touch with us on Facebook, send an email to thinkoutloud@opb.org, or you can leave a voicemail for us at 503-293-1983.