Oregon Public Broadcasting

Public officials across Oregon are dealing with looming budget cuts - and often, deep cuts. But some government entities are in a deeper hole than others. Rob Manning takes a look at why.

Even with federal stimulus money on the way, officials across Oregon are struggling with  a variety of budget problems. About six weeks ago, Portland city commissioner Nick Fish spoke to KGW-TV about the budget gap in the state’s biggest city.

Nick Fish: “Next fiscal year, which starts, you know, middle of the summer, we are projecting five percent cuts and building up from there. To put that in perspective, there really is no context for cuts of that magnitude.”

Fish says five percent may not sound that bad - but he says added to other lost funding, housing programs, for instance, could see much deeper cuts next year. Still, Fish concedes that there’s a government across the Willamette that’s worse off.

Ted Wheeler, chair of the Multnomah County Commission, talked about the cuts last month.

Ted Wheeler: “I’ve spent most of the last eight weeks anguishing over what programs Multnomah County is going to cease to be involved in, and what services that we’re going to eliminate that the community currently enjoys.”

Multnomah County anticipates cuts of about 15 percent of its budget. And unlike the city, Multnomah County has been making deep cuts for years. In contrast, the second largest government in Oregon by population -- Metro -- has a budget that doesn’t look too bad.

This discrepancy raises the question: is Oregon’s revenue going toward the most vital services?

Those governments all get money from different sources - and some are more stable in recessionary times. The city collects water bills and rental income from parks, as well as taxes on rental cars and hotel rooms.

Multnomah County relies heavily on property taxes, which Oregonians voted to limit more than a decade ago. Counties also rely more heavily on the state, which has raised the possibility of 30 percent budget cuts.

State economist, Tom Potiowsky.

Tom Potiowsky: We’re falling basically into a pit.  We hit the bottom of the pit sometime mid this-year.  In the second half of the year, we don’t see ourselves falling any further, but we gotta realize we’re still in the bottom of a pit.”

The state budget relies on income taxes - which tend to dry up in a down economy.

Meanwhile Metro has more stable revenue sources. That’s why Metro’s budget has some wage freezes, but also adds a few jobs.

Metro administrative director, Margaret Norton.

Margaret Norton: “One of the things that this tells me is why we’re perhaps not appearing in today’s headlines with serious disruption in services in the coming year: our resource base is as diversified as our portfolio.”

Metro collects money from events run at the Oregon Convention Center and the Expo Center, and it runs the zoo. Its revenue estimate for next year is basically flat. And one reason is garbage. Garbage brings in relatively stable fees.

Bob Brandenburg: “All the customers that use this facility have to pay a fee that’s set by Metro.”

That’s Bob Brandenburg, the operations manager at Metro’s waste transfer station, in Northwest Portland.

In fact, Metro will have a starting balance of nearly 200 million next year. That’s money Metro says it will need to spend some day for big expenses, like closing landfills. But it’s had at least $200 million in reserve since 2007. And it’s not lost on Metro’s neighbors that Metro is financially better off than they are - but doesn’t provide life-or-death services, like public safety and jails.

So one question for voters and government officials is how to guarantee funding from one year to the next, for the most vital public services.

Ted Kulongoski: “Rob, it’s a great question because we talk about it every day.”

Oregon governor Ted Kulongoski says he’s hoping to get state and local officials talking about schools, jails, and other services - later this year.

Ted Kulongoski: “What are the core functions of government, and what should be the distribution of responsibility between the state government and the local government - and the issue ultimately comes down to ‘the voters of this state have made some choices in this state over the last 15, 20 years’.”

For now, elected officials at all levels of government are watching economic indicators to see how much they’ll have to cut, and what services they can -- or can’t -- provide.