How does each branch of the City government provide checks and balances in the new budget process?
In Portland’s new form of government, the City Council serves as the legislative body, responsible for setting policy, making laws and ultimately approving the City’s budget. Councilors have the authority to make appropriations and raise revenue, ensuring that financial decisions align with the City’s priorities.
While the Mayor is no longer a voting member of Council, the Mayor plays a role in the legislative process by introducing laws. The Mayor does not have veto power.
How is the budget developed?
During the budget process for the City's new form of government, the City Administrator coordinates with service areas and bureaus to develop budget proposals tailored to different service needs. The City Administrator then compiles and releases preliminary budget recommendations, providing a structured framework for financial planning.
The Mayor, with support from the City Administrator, submits a balanced proposed budget to City Council by May 5 each year. Following this, Council reviews, amends and ultimately approves the budget.
Who makes the final decisions on the budget?
The primary responsibility for final decisions on the budget belongs to City Council, but the Mayor may cast a tie-breaking vote, if necessary.
Council reviews, amends and ultimately approves the budget, ensuring that it reflects both community needs and Council priorities. Throughout the budget process, Council has opportunities to engage the community, incorporating public input into budget decisions.
In October 2024, then-Mayor Wheeler directed General Fund bureaus to propose budget reductions of 5 to 8%, excluding 24/7 public safety bureaus—Portland Police, Portland Fire & Rescue and the Bureau of Emergency Communications—as well as legally mandated services. As part of this process, service areas identified ways to streamline operations, eliminate inefficiencies and adjust staffing while considering equity impacts on marginalized communities.
With the transition to Portland’s new government structure in January 2025, the new City Council requested potential reductions from previously exempt public safety bureaus.
City leadership—including the City Administrator, Deputy City Administrators, and financial teams—developed a collaborative approach to evaluating budget proposals. The City Administrator, with support from the City Budget Office, reviewed and finalized recommendations. Council is set to finalize decisions through the Approved Budget on May 21 and the Adopted Budget on June 11. Find details on how to follow along on the Join the FY 25-26 Budget Planning page.
Where can the public view budget proposals, including cuts?
Proposed budget changes, known as Decision Packages, outline both reductions and additions across bureaus and programs. These documents provide detailed breakdowns of financial impacts and priorities. Each year, the City Administrator identifies Decision Packages in the Preliminary Budget Recommendations for potential inclusion in the next fiscal year's budget.
For Fiscal Year 2025-26, the City Administrator published Preliminary Budget Recommendations on February 28. The City Administrator chose not to recommend some Decision Packages based on known high priorities for the Mayor and City Council.
However, decision packages not recommended in the Preliminary Budget Recommendations are options the Mayor and City Council may consider for balancing the Fiscal Year 2025-26 budget.
FY 2025-26 Preliminary Budget Recommendations documents
What are council committees? What do they do?
The City Council serves as the legislative body, responsible for setting policy, making laws and ultimately approving the City’s budget. Policy committees allow City Council to consider, develop and recommend legislation for specific topics. Committees also provide oversight to City bureaus and programs, ensuring they are best serving the needs of community members and meeting their established goals, as directed by Council.
Committees publicly and actively deliberate. In addition, they are the primary place to promote public engagement and input on proposals and policy under consideration. Community members can engage with any council member, not just their District representative, through Council Committees.
The current City Council committee structure includes eight policy committees. Membership in each of the committees can be found on the Policy Committees webpage.
How can community members stay engaged and learn more throughout the budget process?
The City Budget Office provides updated budget information and documents, conducts surveys and gathers public comments. The City also hosts community engagement events to encourage community participation in the budget process. To ensure equitable engagement, multiple platforms are available to accommodate different community needs and preferences. Ways to engage in the budget process include:
- In-person and virtual events, including testimony at Council sessions
- Written comments
- Portland Insights Survey & focus groups
- Budget Advisory Committees (currently in transition to a service-area-specific and/or citywide model – see below)
These engagement opportunities provide community members and organizations multiple ways to share input, influence the budget process and make their voices heard.
What is the status of the Budget Advisory Committees?
Budget Advisory Committees (BACs) played a role in the City’s former government structure, where each bureau independently developed its own proposed budget. This siloed approach meant that BACs were primarily focused on a single bureau’s programs and needs, without considering the broader financial needs of other services and programs across the City.
With the transition to the new government structure—where bureaus are now grouped into service areas and budget development is guided by Deputy City Administrators and the City Administrator—budgeting is now approached holistically, ensuring that financial planning reflects the City’s overall priorities and resources. As a result, the City is reevaluating how BACs may align with this new framework.
Advisory-oriented engagement requires substantial time and commitment from both committee members and City staff, and it must be carefully structured to ensure that community expertise is meaningfully incorporated and valued.
Reviews conducted by the City’s Budget and Finance Staffing and Budget Process consultant and the Government Transition Advisory Committee (GTAC) found the effectiveness of BACs varied significantly. Based on their findings, both GTAC and the consultant recommended the City conduct a comprehensive assessment of all advisory bodies before making further changes.
The City Budget Office is working with the city’s engagement officer to establish new committees that build on past lessons, ensuring their purpose and structure are clearly defined for long-term success. BACs will be replaced with committees better aligned with the City’s new structure and budget process, fostering more effective and inclusive community engagement.
What happens to community input, including the budget comments and testimony submitted online and during listening sessions?
Testimonies and comments community members submit to the City in various formats are recorded and provided to City Council and leadership during budget development processes at different times of the year.
Year-round, Councilors, City leadership and the public can view comments submitted through the Budget Comment and Testimony Form on a live view page, which is automatically updated to include newly submitted comments.
Live View of Budget Comments and Testimony
How was the deficit for Fiscal Year 2025-26 calculated and reported? How did the deficit go from $27 million reported in October of last year to over $100 million this spring?
Each year, the City Economist calculates projected revenue and balances it against the forecasted expenses.
In December 2024, the General Fund Forecast update projected a budget deficit of $27 million in ongoing General Fund discretionary resource compared to forecasted expenses, representing the gap between expected revenues and known expenses at that time. Anticipated expenses included City resources for staffing, budgets for elected officials’ offices, ongoing labor negotiations, rising healthcare costs and efforts to address Portland’s homelessness crisis. This figure did not account for additional one-time expenses and other likely cost increases that had yet to be finalized, however.
As the budget process progressed, the understanding of the magnitude of these additional expenses and cost increases became more concrete. These expenses, which included both known fixed costs in addition to extended or expanded programming investments, collectively added $70 million to the deficit. As a result, in January 2025 the total projected budget shortfall for Fiscal Year 2025-26 increased to $100 million.