Save Our Services Ordinance

The FY 26-27 adopted budget includes the Mayor's unacceptable cuts to staff in public safety, parks, and other core service areas that Portlanders rely on. Unless the Council acts, Portland will lose capacity to deliver essential services that will be difficult and expensive to restore in the future.

Councilors Mitch Green, Candace Avalos, Angelita Morillo, Sameer Kanal, and Tiffany Koyama-Lane have introduced an ordinance to restore critical frontline services eliminated in the FY 2026–27 budget and ensure future workforce reductions are supported by transparent analysis and public accountability.

This Ordinance Will Fund

This package will fund 48 Positions using $7.1M in Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF) interest already accrued in FY 2025-26, and $5.3M of other fund contingencies (appropriate to their funds) in the following ways:

1. Critical Parks maintenance and operations staff, and programming related to maintaining thousands of acres of natural areas, trails, community gardens, and facility infrastructure - $1.38 M (8 FTE)
2. Senior Center Project, which will preserve programming for older adults with disabilities through existing county funding - $40,707 from PCEF interest and $335,000 County funding (1 FTE)
3. Customer Service Representatives at 311, protecting residents' ability to access City services - $237,000 (2 FTE)
4. Public Safety Support Specialists, Portland Police Bureau's unarmed civilian responders who handle property and vehicle crime reports - $1.59M (12 FTE)
5. Fully restore 24/7 service for three Portland Fire & Rescue advanced life support rescue vehicles, helping maintain emergency response capacity in East and Southeast Portland - $1.65M
6. Additional positions identified by labor and prior Council analysis as carrying considerable operational risk if eliminated across bureaus for parks, water, transportation, revenue division, planning & sustainability, and environmental services - $4.7M (25 FTE)
7. Delay in layoff date for layoff impacted employees so they can retain health benefits longer and have more time to prepare a transition - $2.48M
8. Janitorial service jobs - $261,000

In 2024 and 2025, Council approved a one-time transfer of PCEF interest for programmatic areas due to budget constraints. Historically, the Mayor and City Administrator have directed where PCEF interest should be applied before Council has taken action. Our ordinance defines that PCEF interest should be used for public safety, parks, and other unacceptable budget gaps that will reduce basic services for Portlanders.

Full ordinance language

Last Chance to Give Testimony

With termination notices already sent out, the Portland City Council doesn't have much time before critical City workers lose their jobs and Portlanders lose their services. At the July 15 full Council meeting, councilors will be asked to decide whether to save positions and key programs or continue a City restructure (realignment) that we know will be far more costly in the long run.

Tell your councilors:

"Please join your colleagues and vote yes on the Save Our Services ordinance. We need to save jobs across City bureaus that the Mayor cut in his realignment approach before these losses become more costly. I support restoring Advanced Life Support (ALS) Teams, Public Support Safety Specialists (PS3s), Parks and Recreation maintenance and programming, Relay Janitorial services, and PDX 311. These are resources and programs that we rely on. The budget season is over, but your job's not done. Save our services!"

Register to testify on this ordinance

PCEF Climate Investments Will Continue to be Fully Funded

The Climate Investment Plan (CIP) is the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF) five-year plan that guides the program's investments. Through the CIP, PCEF invests in community-led projects that reduce carbon emissions, create economic opportunity, and help make our city more resilient as we face a changing climate. The Climate Investment Plan, and all approved climate projects will continue to receive full funding.

Climate Investment Plan