PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — An important vote is underway to determine the budget for Portland Parks & Recreation.
The proposal is Measure 26-260, which would increase taxes to keep the city parks operation. If it fails, the city says it will have to lay off about half of the Park Bureau’s staff.
So far the voter turnout is low. As of Sunday afternoon, the Multnomah County Elections Division dashboard shows a little over 19% percent of Portland voters have turned in their ballots.
The city’s parks funding comes from two sources. The first is the general fund, which pays for things such as parks maintenance. Then the levy, whose funds solely go towards parks programing such as swim lessons and reduced cost programs.
Passed in 2020, the five-year parks levy currently taxes property owners 80 cents per $1,000 assessed value. If the levy is renewed, the tax would increase to $1.40, costing the average homeowner an extra $133 per year.
If approved, the new levy would raise $86 million in its first year, according to city officials.
Portland City Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney, Councilor Sameer Kanal, as well as Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read were among canvassers going around the city to get support for this vote on Sunday. But not everyone is on board with the measure.
An audit released in October found 86% of the Portland Parks Bureau’s assets are in poor condition, with no funding plan to fix them. The audit also noted the estimated cost to restore the parks to a “reasonable level” would be up to $800 million.
Funding from the current levy does not go to maintenance and this measure would designate 2% of the money to go toward maintenance, raising only around $2 million a year.
City Councilor Dan Ryan said these audit results led him to come out against the levy, despite 11 of his fellow city councilors endorsing the measure.
In a formal release sent out Friday, Ryan cited limitations, including that system development charges can only go to new parks construction. Additionally, he said it was not fair for the city to keep coming back to voters for another tax increase.
“This levy isn’t a shared responsibility,” Ryan said. “So as a lifelong parks and recreation advocate, I’ll be voting no—and no matter how the vote lands Tuesday, the city must do better because a 75% increase to a current tax in 2025 is not acceptable. Parks needs a shake up and a no vote is what is necessary to wake us up and deliver reforms.”
Pirtle-Guiney told KOIN 6 News that this measure will improve the current levy and work on bringing in outside funding through partnerships and sponsors for events.
“We put a lot of changes into how this levy works,” she said. “That position for outside funding, better oversight – a whole lot of critical metrics that we need the Parks Bureau to meet with this new levy to ensure that we’re using dollars effectively.”
Kanal argues that, when it comes to parks, this levy is “a small price to pay.”
“In terms of this entire system of green space, this entire system of community centers and all those extra parks that you’re talking about as well, the woods, the skate parks, all that. It’s shoring up the whole system,” he told KOIN 6 News. “So we’ve got hundreds of different sites in there. It’s not allocated to any one specific park at this percentage. It’s part of the entire system on a program level.”
Portland voters have until 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4 to drop their ballot off at an official election site. Mailed ballots must also be postmarked by Nov. 4.
Jenna Deml
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