The Portland Metro Chamber along with a coalition of Portland-area business groups is calling on the Portland City Council to support the Mayor’s proposed budget without significant changes, while focusing on core city services.
Mayor Wilson’s FY 2026–27 proposed budget is a disciplined response to a substantial structural deficit. The Portland City Council should adopt it substantially as submitted — and reject any further cuts to the agencies Portland’s recovery depends on most.
Portland is at a critical moment. Residents and businesses are asking for the same thing: a city government focused on delivering core services effectively, restoring public confidence, and stabilizing Portland’s economic future. This is not the moment for political maneuvering or ideological budget debates. It is the moment to focus on the foundational services that determine whether Portland succeeds or falls further behind competing cities.
Faced with a substantial structural deficit, Mayor Wilson has presented a disciplined budget that prioritizes essential services while making difficult but necessary reductions across city government. The proposal appropriately focuses on fiscal stability, operational accountability, and the preservation of the core functions that residents and employers rely on every day.
Six agencies must be protected from further cuts
The Mayor’s budget already includes significant reductions — staffing cuts, bureau consolidations, administrative streamlining, deferred investments, and operational savings. There is no justification for further weakening the agencies most responsible for public safety, emergency preparedness, economic recovery, and neighborhood livability. We recommend these agencies be protected from further cuts in the budget process.
- Portland Police Bureau
- Portland Fire & Rescue
- Portland Environmental Management
- Prosper Portland
- Portland Parks & Recreation
- Auditor’s Office
Key Priorities:
Public safety cannot absorb more reductions
Additional cuts to the Portland Police Bureau would directly undermine ongoing efforts to restore public confidence in safety conditions across the city. Businesses continue to cite crime, emergency response reliability, retail theft, and visible disorder as among the top barriers to investment and recovery. The Mayor’s budget appropriately protects core patrol and operational functions while still requiring bureau-wide efficiencies. Further cuts would move Portland backward at precisely the wrong time.
Portland Fire & Rescue and emergency management are equally non-negotiable. Portland faces growing risks from severe weather, wildfire smoke events, natural disasters, infrastructure disruptions, and public health emergencies. Reducing emergency preparedness and response capability in this environment would be irresponsible and shortsighted.
Economic development is not optional during a fiscal crisis — it is essential to solving one
Prosper Portland plays a critical role in business recruitment, small business support, industrial land development, job creation, and downtown revitalization. Further reductions to economic development capacity would compound the city’s fiscal problems rather than address them.
Parks are infrastructure, not amenities
Clean, safe, and well-maintained parks, recreation facilities, trails, and community spaces are core city services that directly affect neighborhood livability, tourism, workforce attraction, public health, and community safety. Parks are not peripheral add-ons; they are foundational infrastructure that shapes how residents and visitors experience Portland every day. Continued deterioration of parks maintenance and recreation services would further erode public confidence in the city’s ability to deliver basic services.
Independent oversight must be preserved
The Portland City Auditor’s Office plays a critical role in ensuring transparency, accountability, and public trust in city government. At a time when residents and businesses are demanding greater confidence in how public resources are managed, independent oversight, performance auditing, elections administration, and government accountability functions are essential — not expendable. Preserving the Auditor’s budget helps ensure taxpayer dollars are used effectively and that city government operates with integrity and public confidence.
Portland cannot cut its way to recovery by hollowing out core systems while continuing to ask residents and businesses to shoulder rising taxes and fees. Households and employers are already facing mounting financial pressures. The city must demonstrate discipline, focus, and a commitment to getting the basics right.
Now is the time to focus on core services, fiscal stability, and restoring public confidence — not political division. Portland’s residents, workers, and employers deserve a city government focused on execution, accountability, and results.
Coalition Partners:
- Associated Wall & Ceiling Contractors
- BOMA Oregon
- Home Building Association of Greater Portland
- Multifamily NW
- NECA Oregon-Columbia
- Oregon Smart Growth
- Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors
- Portland Metro Chamber
- Working Waterfront Coalition