Multnomah County poised to adopt $4 billion budget

The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners will vote this week on the county’s nearly $4 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year, but the spending proposal that Chair Jessica Vega Pederson unveiled at the end of April is expected to undergo significant amendments before its final approval Thursday.

The county’s overall budget for 2025 is increasing 11.5% — or $408 million — thanks to bumps in Metro supportive housing and Preschool for All tax collection and carryover. Its general fund budget — the county’s largest pool of discretionary funding, primarily from property and business taxes — remains steady. Inflation and rising salaries for 6,000 employees mean the county faces a budget gap of $3.9 million, according to a report from the budget director’s office.

Vega Pederson is seeking to add programs and redirect spending as the county continues to grapple with homelessness, drug addiction and overdoses, a lack of adequate treatment for people with mental illnesses, slow ambulance response times and a spike in jail deaths.

As of Tuesday, county officials have proposed over 60 budget amendments, and even more are on the way as the board of commissioners finalizes their recommendations before the Thursday vote.

Budget items up for consideration include the following:

County elections: Vega Pederson’s proposal earmarks $1 million to prepare for and educate residents on ranked choice voting, which Portland voters approved for November and county voters approved for 2026. Another $1 million has been proposed to evaluate the implementation of a small donor elections program, similar to Portland’s, which would provide public money to county candidates each election cycle. The program aims to set up public financing for the November 2026 election.

Homeless services: Multnomah County and Portland leaders vowed to improve the system that responds to homelessness, and the chair’s budget dedicates $127 million, including a nearly $22 million boost in spending for adult shelters through the Joint Office of Homeless Services, to bolster safety for people living on the street and in shelters and expand shelter beds. The county would also set aside $18.5 million in one-time funding to expand its emergency shelters.

The proposal would also inject funds into east county, including $600,000 for additional staffing for Gresham’s homeless services and more rent assistance. An additional $300,000 will go to outreach and rental assistance programs in Fairview, Troutdale and Wood Village.

Animal services: County auditors have repeatedly slammed Multnomah County Animal Services’ for poor management and care over the last eight years. An audit released last year found the shelter failed to spend more than $2 million over five years for spay and neuter surgeries, veterinary expenses and pet adoptions. That audit came after Vega Pederson committed to fix the county’s Troutdale shelter, which for years failed to meet the minimum standards outlined by the Association of Shelter Veterinarians for feeding animals, cleaning kennels and providing sufficient human contact. The chair’s budget includes funding for a new foster care position and three field service employees. Over $300,000 would be added to emergency medical and spay and neutering services.

Jails: Ten people in Multnomah County jails died in 2022 and 2023. The draft fiscal plan allocates $518,000 for three new staff positions for the Corrections Health division “to oversee care coordination and therapeutic interventions for adults in custody, particularly for those with significant behavioral health challenges.” Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell said in a May 9 budget meeting that the office is facing a staffing shortage of around 35 jail employees. As of Tuesday, the jail held 923 people, with a capacity of 1,130 jail beds.

The budget would also fund $217,706 for a gun dispossession program that would work with people who are court-ordered to turn in their firearms. The program would employ one deputy, down from the two who were working on dispossession cases.

District attorney’s office and criminal justice: Multnomah County and the city of Portland last year agreed to jointly fund two teams in the independently elected Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office to prosecute people chronically accused of retail and car theft. Vega Pederson’s proposal extends support for the teams with $876,000 in one-time funding.

Her budget also restores $176,000 to maintain one crime victim advocate “to support increased workloads and a high demand for these advocacy services.”

Measure 110 changes: The rollback of Oregon’s drug decriminalization law has pressed counties across the state to commit to an approach to direct people into substance abuse treatment before they face conviction or jail. Multnomah County has set aggressive timelines to open what officials call a deflection center (meant to help people before they enter the criminal justice system, creating an option before diversion to avoid jail) by Sept. 1. The budget includes $29 million in funding, most of which came from the state, for the deflection center and recovery services. Some of those funds will be used to support a separate 24/7 drop-off sobering center.

Refugee services: When the state ended hotel accommodations for asylum seekers last year, it gave Multnomah County close to $10 million to help move people out of the hotel and into community housing. Advocates lobbied Multnomah County officials to do more for asylum seekers who weren’t able to benefit from the state’s assistance. In April, county officials dedicated $50,000 to extend housing for 30 asylum-seeking families, some of whom were staying in hotel rooms paid for by a community-based organization that was running out of money.

The proposed county budget would allocate $1.3 million for a Newcomer Support Services Pilot program to fund transition services and emergency housing for asylum seekers.

Faster ambulances: Slow ambulance response times continue to plague the county. A county ombudsman report released in May found that officials failed to fine American Medical Response sooner to address the issue. The ambulance provider cited paramedic staffing shortages as the issue and has requested the county change its requirement to have two paramedics on each ambulance.

County officials are still in mediation with AMR and voted in March to reopen its ambulance service plan — the document guiding ambulance services in the county. The chair’s fiscal plan would dedicate $756,768 to conduct a full assessment of the service plan. After that, the county board can decide whether it needs to reevaluate its contract with AMR.

A new Strategic Planning, Performance, Agility, Reinvention, and Knowledge unit called SPARK: The proposed budget would add a new branch under the chief operating officer dedicated to “building a more responsive, future-ready government.” The so-called SPARK unit would be tasked with drafting a strategic plan for the county, and would add two new assistant chief operating officers. A total of $2.7 million is allocated to the new unit, which would be used to recruit “strategy, research, evaluation and continuous improvement specialists.”

— Austin De Dios covers Multnomah County politics, programs and more. Reach him at 503-319-9744, adedios@oregonian.com or @AustinDeDios.

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