Letter from Chair Jessica Vega Pederson
Even in the toughest budget years, Multnomah County’s work is vital to the wellbeing of our community. That’s why the budget I’m proposing makes the best use of the dollars we have to serve our community’s essential needs and makes sure resources are going to the people who rely on them most and whose needs we must prioritize during challenging times.
In the pages that follow, I share how I’ve balanced these hard decisions and prioritized direct services, homeless services, public safety and mental health and substance use support services.
The County is the safety net for each of us — the largest community in our state. Cuts across our organization can be devastating to the individuals who rely on us as a last resort. Our job is to meet our neighbors and friends on their hardest days and help them live, rise, and thrive.
I believe in a Multnomah County where:
- Families and children are safe, healthy, and prosperous
- Everyone has a place to call home with support to persevere through a personal crisis
- Racial disparities are addressed
- All are welcome
Local government feels more important today than ever before. Our nation and our democracy are under threat. Our County must be a safe haven for our values of democracy, equity, accountability, kindness, and support for one another.
I’m raising my children in this community, and the future I’m working toward for them is something I want for everyone.
Our community is facing a grim economic forecast with fewer dollars to spend on the things our families and neighbors need. We’re required to make tens of millions of dollars in cuts compared to our budget last year. The County’s support and services are increasingly important as the federal government is more volatile and unstable than at any point in my lifetime.
Tough budgets require tough choices and tradeoffs.
- I’m prioritizing direct services that are most impactful and effective for people struggling to make ends meet, who are homeless, and who are ill, have disabilities, or have no access to other care.
- I’m prioritizing programs that serve children and families, and communities most impacted by disparities and systemic challenges.
- I’m continuing programs that prevent homelessness, improve health outcomes, protect public safety, and strengthen resilience.
- I’m making administrative reductions to streamline our operations, and strategic cuts to programs that are not as impactful as we need them to be.
In order to prioritize these critical services, I’ve made cuts to administrative costs not core to our mission with the aim of improving efficiency and reducing overhead. I also had to take reductions in case management, technical assistance, peer navigation and the elimination of programs and grants that we know serve people. With those savings, I’ve preserved life-saving interventions and programs to keep people housed, move people from shelter into housing, and maintain rental assistance and shelter beds so the number of unsheltered people on our streets does not increase.
The dollars we have for homelessness are significantly less than what we’ve had in recent years — and far less than what we need to truly address the heartbreaking and complex challenge of having so many people living on our streets. In addition to thousands of people sleeping outside, families, elders, and low-income households are on the brink of becoming homeless. There’s not enough affordable housing, wages aren’t keeping pace with the cost of living, and many are struggling with mental health issues and addiction. These are our friends and neighbors, and our care for them continues with every dollar we have to give to the direct services that will make the most difference.
It’s not possible to make cuts to this degree and not have it affect the services we provide. Still, my budget ensures no shelter bed is lost, and no health clinic is closed. I’ve maintained areas where we’ve seen progress in recent years: investments have led to reductions in homicides and auto theft; effective initiatives to tackle the mental health and addiction crises; miles of improved roads and bridges; a pathway to rebuild animal services; countywide improvements to workplace security, information technology, and community engagement; an impressive execution of the most complex election in the County’s history; and so so much more.
My commitment is clear: I make every decision from deep dialogue with County leaders and extensive engagement with all of you. Our office heard from more than 4,000 people through my annual budget survey; a February community town hall; hundreds of constituent testimonies; and emails, conversations, and discussions with many local leaders, providers, advocates, and our County Community Budget Advisory Committees. Thank you for taking the time to engage with our office and the County. Your voice really matters.
While our homelessness, addiction, and community safety work are priorities, we are responsible for our safety net — from building out free preschool for every child to renovating our system of libraries to serving as our local public health and mental health authority. This work remains just as crucial.
We also know that when our streets are safe for everyone, our services are more accessible. This budget funds community safety programs — from prevention to accountability — with very few service impacts. While almost every department was asked to cut services, I fully preserved the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office budget. The Department of Community Justice took just a 3% cut, the District Attorney a 2% cut at the same time that I stabilized the District Attorney’s staffing by converting 11 positions previously funded through temporary and one-time dollars to an ongoing commitment.
The world is in flux. Under my leadership, our community can trust that the County will continue to prioritize and center people who face the most challenging circumstances. The fact that we have these services in our community is a testament to the power of our representative democracy. This is an important moment for all of us to remember the values that drive our commitments to each other. In putting our energies into direct services, we will continue to be the Multnomah County most needed by our community.
Chair Jessica Vega Pederson
Read Chair Vega Pederson's complete executive budget message