The Feb. 24 Multnomah County community budget forum in Gresham has been postponed due to weather and will be rescheduled at a later date. The March 3 meeting in Portland will be held as scheduled.
As the Oregon Legislature and Governor Kitzhaber begin to wrestle with a looming state shortfall of $3.5 billion across Oregon, Multnomah County will be faced with decisions how to make cuts to county services given the reductions in state funding.
Multnomah County Chair Jeff Cogen and the county's Citizen Involvement Committee (CIC) will host two public budget meetings to gather feedback on which county services are of the highest importance to the community. A meeting will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 on March 3 at the Multnomah Building, 501 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd., Portland, in addition to another meeting in Gresham on a date yet to be determined.
The meetings – set up to provide information involving public safety, seniors, people with disabilities, early childhood development and other health and human services programs – will begin with an informational session on how state funding works to support county services. Small group discussions will follow to elicit input from the community how best to prioritize county services.
Chair Cogen’s FY 2012 Executive Budget will be released in early May. The full Board of Commissioners then will deliberate over the Chair's budget, accepting further public testimony at meetings in May. The final budget will be adopted by the board in early June.