Copyright The Oregonian
Portland Councilor Dan Ryan on Friday said he will vote against a city-backed ballot measure that would significantly increase money collected from property owners to maintain existing parks and recreation services. Ryan is the only member of the 12-person City Council who has come out against the levy. “I love our parks, but this levy asks Portlanders to pay for inefficiencies the bureau hasn’t fixed,” announced Ryan, who served as parks commissioner under Portland’s old form of government. “The Parks Bureau can and should generate more of its own revenue instead of relying again on taxpayers.” Measure 26-260 would raise Portland’s current parks levy by 75%, from 80 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value annually to $1.40, a move that city officials say is necessary just to sustain current parks operations. Under the proposed five-year tax hike, an average city homeowner would pay an extra $133 a year. For commercial property owners, that amount would be about $188. Should voters reject the proposed levy renewal in the Nov. 4 election, parks officials have said that they would need to slash current bureau operations by up to 50%. The Portland City Council, which crafted the proposal, referred it to voters in June, after months of painstaking debate over how to land on an increased tax rate that would be palatable to voters as well as the city’s traditional power brokers. Ryan at that time joined the rest of the council in unanimously approving the referral. Yet in a newsletter to constituents Friday, he criticized the Parks Bureau for what he said was the agency’s propensity to offer fee discounts without “means testing” and its slow rollout of a public-private partnership for the Portland Tennis Center. “This levy renewal was too high from the beginning, which I expressed when Council passed it to voters,” Ryan said in a statement to The Oregonian/OregonLive. “I hoped to see more change at Parks between then and now, but I haven’t. As a result, I can’t ask Portlanders to support this tax.” Portland City Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney, who like Ryan represents North and Northeast Portland’s District 2, pushed back against her colleague’s criticism Friday, expressing strong support for the measure. “As a councilor and a mom, I get a lot of opportunities to talk with Portlanders about what our parks mean for our community,” Pirtle-Guiney said in a text message. “In District 2, especially from other moms, I hear how much this levy matters. People aren’t asking if we should fund our parks — they’re asking what they can do to help make sure it passes.” There is currently no formal opposition to the measure, which has earned the backing of Portland’s top state and local elected leaders, as well as a coalition comprised of dozens of nonprofit, environmental, labor and business groups. Portlanders for Parks, the campaign launched in support of the measure, had raised $161,000 as of Friday, state financial records show. Jessica Green, executive director of the Portland Parks Foundation and chair of the campaign, said City Council unanimously referred the measure to voters because they recognized the importance of keeping parks accessible to everyone. “Without this funding, Portland faces cuts to access, basic maintenance, and safety across our park system — plus likely cuts to public safety, housing, and transportation budgets — that will impact every Portlander,” Green said. Citywide, the bureau operates and maintains 156 parks, 11 indoor and outdoor swimming pools and a dozen community centers, as well as other natural areas and recreational facilities. The Parks Bureau’s operating budget for this fiscal year is $170 million, with more than 40% coming from the current levy. Money from the existing levy, set to expire at the end of the year, is used to spruce up parks and natural areas, pay for outdoor and community center programs and provide low-income residents with free or reduced-cost swim lessons, summer camps and other recreational activities. None of those dollars, however, have gone toward what some advocates say is the most dire issue facing Portland Parks & Recreation — its swelling price tag for major infrastructure repairs, now estimated between $550 and $800 million. If renewed at the higher rate, a tiny portion of the updated parks levy each year — about $2 million — would begin to go toward chipping away at the staggering maintenance backlog. The current five-year levy passed easily in 2020 with 64% of the vote. At the time, city leaders envisioned the measure as a temporary fix for the long-beleaguered Parks Bureau as it worked to find sustainable solutions for its operations and capital maintenance needs. Yet the bureau has continued to struggle financially amid inflation, rising wages and declining city revenues and as it has added hundreds of new employees to its payroll. Earlier this year, the bureau faced about $14 million in general fund cuts under Mayor Keith Wilson’s proposed budget, though some of that funding was ultimately restored by the City Council. Those ongoing challenges were laid bare this month in a bruising report by Portland Auditor Simone Rede, which determined the bureau remains without any plan to pay for reasonable parks upkeep. Among Rede’s many findings were that the Parks Bureau had failed to demonstrate strong financial stewardship or show the public what cost-saving measures it has pursued as it again asks taxpayers for more money. In his announcement, Ryan said the bureau needed to undergo “real institutional change” before he would support a pricier parks levy. “It’s not fair to keep coming back to voters for another tax increase,” he said. “I’m voting no.”
