Potter's budget hints at larger general fund, less controversy

Thanks partly to increases in business license fee revenue, Portland Mayor Tom Potter's 2008-09 budget anticipates an additional $33 million for the city's general fund.

Potter released a list of general fund budget proposals for the money, which represents the amount above the figure required to maintain services at last year's levels.

Potter still has a bit of paring to do from the $113 million in council members' requests for the additional funds. He's listed some $35 million in requests, or $2 million more than is likely available, for services related to transportation, parks, housing, public safety, business development, planning and neighborhood involvement.

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Ty Kovatch, chief of staff for City Commissioner Randy Leonard, expects little pushback from council members regarding Potter's proposals.

"We don't find this budget particularly controversial," he said. "They did a fairly balanced job in putting it together. There are always things around the edges, but there wasn't anything that caused major heartburn about what they've done. They had to take more than $100 million in requests and pare it down to $33 million, which is difficult."

Specifically, Potter's budget requests:

• $3.5 million for such transportation projects as sidewalks and other improvements along busy Northeast Cully Boulevard,
• $2.7 million to help fully fund the Park Bureau's operating costs, which would arrive in a year that a five-year levy funding capital construction and operations ends,
• $6.4 million for such programs as the city's 10-year plan to end homelessness,
• $4.8 million to update the city's emergency communications system,
• $2.45 million to update other police-related systems,
• $1.8 million to allow the Portland Development Commission to work with more small businesses,
• $1.8 million to complete a comprehensive plan update, and
• $1 million for expansions with Portland's Office of Neighborhood Involvement.

Potter, who's not running for re-election this year, noted that his final budget's growth comes four years after the city faced a $15.7 million general fund deficit.

"Since then, Portland's economy has become vibrant again and our city is routinely hailed as one of the nation's most livable, sustainable and special places to live," he said.

Potter also used his budget message, issued before he unveiled the full document this morning, to call for the city to update various infrastructure issues.

The next City Council should "assess the city's infrastructure needs, and then increase funding to pay for the necessary fixes," he said. "This means some new programs shouldn't be funded and others delayed. To do otherwise means that the level of service residents currently expect of their city will decline."