Yesterday, the Portland City Council held a work session on the Fall Budget Monitoring Process (Fall BMP). This year’s Fall BMP is unique in that we have unexpected revenue available for one-time funding, meaning these are funds that will not exist next year and therefore will not be available to fund ongoing budget or staffing commitments. This revenue has largely come from taxes on our largest corporations and big businesses who saw increased profits while small businesses and regular Portlanders continue to struggle.
I love our city and recognize we are dealing with a lot of challenges as we recover from an ongoing pandemic, economic fallout, heat waves, a racial justice uprising, and a national surge in gun violence. I share the concerns I’m hearing from our community – people want to feel safe, they want a compassionate response to the houseless crisis, and they want to see an expanded community safety system that includes Portland Street Response. These funds offer a chance to collaborate around a one-time spending package that helps address Portlanders’ top priorities, including safety and houselessness.
There is an urgency to respond to these crises that must be balanced with thoughtful proposals and sound financial management that ensures these investments produce outcomes that provide safety and relief to Portlanders in need of help.
I’m grateful for the collaboration between Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury, Mayor Wheeler and Commissioner Dan Ryan that will allow both the City and County to pool resources together to increase our investment in mitigating the humanitarian crisis on our streets. This is an excellent opportunity to pursue a long-held goal of mine for the county and city to purchase infrastructure such as motels for housing and I am excited for us to take that next step.
I understand Portlanders want an urgent solution to their safety concerns, but I don't want to mislead Portlanders that adding empty positions to PBB will solve our most urgent problems. It can take up to 18 months for new officers to be hired, trained, certified, and on patrol for PPB. I’m in agreement with Commissioner Carmen Rubio that our immediate focus should be filling current vacancies within the bureau.
Based on data, I continue to believe that in addition to upstream solutions we need to better utilize the resources we have. A recent KATU article highlighted that currently less than half of PPB employees are assigned to respond to 911 calls. Realigning our staffing to get more officers on the streets is something we can do today to get calls that require police answered now.
Although long term retire-rehire is not a fix that changes the culture of PPB, I am open to a retire-rehire proposal that seeks to bring 25 recently retired officers back to the bureau, and believe those positions need to include parameters. For example, I believe that officers that left the bureau while under investigation for misconduct should not be brought back into PPB.
In addition to retire-rehire, I also support the Mayor's proposal to commission a study that takes a deeper look into PPB’s current staffing responsibilities. I applaud Chief Lovell for being willing to work with the Mayor and Community Safety Director Mike Myers to take the time and resources to get this data. I also appreciate Commissioner Mingus Mapps’ efforts to make sure our 911 system can dispatch calls in a timely manner.
Nothing excites me more than the most visionary aspect of this budget, which breaks from the status quo to expand our public safety system with funding for Portland Street Response. This funding will allow PSR to respond to 911 calls citywide by Spring. The pilot project has already produced results showing they can take close to 5% of 911 calls away from police and we expect that to grow as more call types are added over time. This will continue to free up resources for PBB.
I feel the frustration and fears of so many Portlanders right now because I am a part of our community and I see what you see. I want Portlanders to know these are the priority issues I’ve been addressing and I’m committed to continuing this work every single day. I also want you to experience transparent government and have access to our budgeting process. I am deeply conflicted that while I agree with the sense of urgency used to develop these proposals, we are also spending millions of dollars behind closed doors and without the benefit of giving time to our budget office to fully vet proposals.
When I came into office, one of my first commitments was to hire a professional financial policy advisor and to be a good steward of public resources. I believe that is exactly what I have done and I am committed to continuing to bring that lens to our budget process. I want to reconcile my reservations and move forward with my colleagues to fund innovative solutions to Portland’s biggest problems. I am looking forward to hearing public testimony next week because I continue to believe that Portlanders are our city’s greatest resource and that together, we can solve anything.