February 8, 2024 LNLA Meeting Answers to Questions

Here are answers to questions, asked at the February 2024 LNLA meeting, as provided [unedited] by City of Portland Transition staff member June Reyes.

What are the salaries of each member of the future Portland City Council?

The salaries of Portland’s future mayor, auditor, and 12 councilors were set by the Salary Commission, an independent public body of HR professionals selected through a citywide application process.

It considered salaries that would attract a broad range of candidates and allow an elected person to office to cover their needs, have disposable income, and plan for their future without additional sources of income or existing wealth and determined the following salaries:

Mayor: $175,463
Auditor: $168,758
Council: $133,207

In addition, any elected official can choose to apply for the City of Portland’s Language Access Program and receive the differential pay amount if they qualify.

What are the salaries of future council staff members? How many staff per council person?

The ongoing budget process will determine City Council’s final decisions on how many and what positions to fund to support the incoming elected officials, but the current anticipated status is one Senior Council Aide for each of the 12 council offices. A Council Operations Team will include up to five staff members to provide additional operations and committee support, four administrative specialists to provide each district office with additional scheduling and administrative support, and a manager.

The tables below show the number of positions currently requested and how they will support the new council:

Requested budgets for City Council staff including Council Operations Team

Classification Title	Description	Total # positions requested	Salary Range – Minimum	Salary Range – Maximum
Senior Council Aide	One staff person per councilor	12	82,888	124,322
Council Operations team	Support the expanded 12-member council, including committee meetings and apolitical legislative research and analysis on policy priorities.	10	Positions are currently undergoing a process to establish new classifications for these positions so salary ranges are unknown at this time. $1.6 million has been requested for these personnel.

It’s important to note that in the new form of government, the mayor does not sit on City Council.

Note that the Mayor’s office will be decreasing in size. The Mayor’s office requested budget shows five requested staff:

Classification Title	Total # positions requested	Salary Range – Minimum	Salary Range – Maximum
Mayor’s Chief of Staff	1	108,888	163,322
Mayor’s Senior Aide	1	90,000	135,000
Mayor’s Aide	2	71,968	115,128
Mayor’s Administrative Specialist	1	40,248	80,832

What is the cost of district offices outside of City Hall?
Will we ever see district offices?

Council Resolution 37368 directed the Office of Management and Finance Facilities Services to identify in-district offices for 12 councilors and staff available no later than January 1, 2025. The Office of Management and Finance’s Division of Asset Management has pegged the one-time capital cost of creating in-district offices as required in Resolution 37368 at $600,000 to $1.8 million, depending on the cost to get Rose Network access at each district location (as accessing the City’s network is the underlying requirement for in-district offices to match the security levels of downtown Council offices), and approximately $1.7 million (total) to maintain these offices each year that they are in operation.

At the Feb. 6 Government Transition Advisory Committee (GTAC) meeting the facilities manager provided an update to GTAC on district offices. You can learn more about the costs, research and findings in that presentation. It was also shared that council was looking for GTAC’s feedback on how they should proceed.

Since then, the GTAC districts and council operations subcommittee met on Feb. 29 to discuss this task. The districts and council operations subcommittee will present a summary of their discussion before the full GTAC on March 13, and will then decide whether to make a recommendation to the current city council regarding Resolution 37368.

If GTAC lands on an agreed-upon recommendation during the March 13 meeting, that would result in sending a letter that details their recommendations on district offices to council immediately after.

At every full GTAC meeting, there is an opportunity for public testimony. We encourage the public to participate in this process by providing testimony to GTAC and/or tracking their discussions. You can find the March 13 agenda and presentation items HERE.

Additionally, the GTAC will present recommendations on future council districts and offices including exploring expectations around outreach and constituent relations by October 2024. These will be directed at future elected and city leadership and will undergo a public comment process from July to August 2024. We welcome you to join an upcoming listening session to inform these recommendations, and these are probably the best way for you to participate in these discussions and learn more about the transition.

With budget shortfalls and business revenue down does anyone know where that money will be coming from?

As stated, you are aware that the City’s General Fund is financially constrained.

The Portland Bureau of Transportation must also address a $32 million deficit, in part, to substantial reductions in tax and parking fee revenues. Additionally, the Bureau of Development Services will also be reducing workforce to address forecasted decreases in the permit fees that support its services.

Given these financial issues, the mayor implemented a strategy to address the budget shortfall by directing all city bureaus, with the exceptions of Portland Fire and Rescue, the Portland Police Bureau, and the Bureau of Emergency Communications, to plan their budgets within a 5% constraint.

This measure is meant to generate revenue which will be allocated towards funding the council’s priorities.

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