This process may change as part of City's Charter Transition process, in which a new form of government will be in place in January 2025.
What is the BMP?
The City Budget Office (CBO) is responsible for financial monitoring and control of the City's budget during the fiscal year that:
- Provides Council with information on revenues, expenditures, and performance at the bureau and fund level;
- At the discretion of the CBO analyst or as requested by Council, provides Council with information on revenues, expenditures, and performance at the program level; and
- Includes options for amending the budget during the year to comply with State of Oregon budgetary statutes and to address urgent and unforeseen needs or emergencies.
When does the BMP happen?
The BMP happens three times during the fiscal year. The BMP includes budget monitoring activities and the ability to make changes to current year appropriations through supplemental budgeting.
- The Fall BMP serves two major purposes: to give City Council and the public a summary of prior year activity and performance (budget monitoring) and to adjust the current fiscal year budget (supplemental budgeting).
- The Spring BMP focuses on projecting spending for the remainder of the fiscal year (budget monitoring) and to make necessary adjustments to bureau budgets (supplemental budgeting). At this point in the fiscal year, bureaus and CBO should be able to project spending and revenues with a reasonable degree of accuracy.
- The Over-Expenditure Ordinance is narrowly focused on addressing over-expenditures and interfund loans to ensure that funds do not end the fiscal year with negative cash or fund balances. No other budget adjustments should be requested.
What kind of budget changes happen during the BMP?
The BMP is primarily technical in nature. Most requests are related to truing up budgets between fiscal years and adjusting the budget based on changes to projected spending.
Per City Financial Policy and state budget law, there is the ability to allocate or request new resources to address urgent and unforeseen needs that come up during the fiscal year that cannot be funded through existing resources. These are usually one-time changes and do not repeat in the next budget cycle. In general, ongoing changes are considered through the annual budget process and approval of rate changes.
How are decisions made during the BMP?
As with the budget development process, the first step is for bureaus to submit their requested budget changes to the City Budget Office. These changes should be reviewed with and supported by that bureau’s Commissioner-in-Charge in advance. CBO then analyzes and provides recommendations for these decisions to City Council. Council discuses the requested changes and Mayor’s Proposed Supplemental Budget at a Council Work Session. The last step is for Council to vote on the Supplemental Budget. Per Local Budget Law, there is a Supplemental Budget hearing with an opportunity to provide public testimony before Council takes their vote.
Budget Documents
View FY 2024 – 25 Adopted Budget documents
These are the adopted budgets for the City of Portland's many bureaus. Council adopts the budget at a regular Council session.
View FY 2024–25 Budget Monitoring Process (BMP) documents
You can find all of the documents related to the Budget Monitoring Processes available at the link above. Please use the menu on the right-hand side of that page to see the different phases of budget monitoring and their associated documents.