By Shane Dixon Kavanaugh
oregonlive.com
PORTLAND, Ore. 鈥� Portland Mayor said Thursday that his proposed budget for next fiscal year will spare a popular non-police intervention program from the chopping block.
In addition to fully funding , Wheeler said he will seek to stave off all potential cuts to the city鈥檚 cash-strapped Fire Bureau and protect other public safety services from being scaled back.
He teased those details a press briefing held to highlight portions of a proposed $8.2 billion budget, which his office won鈥檛 make public until Friday.
According to city budget officials, the mayor will recommend the city spend $732 million, a 3.5% increase from the current $708 million, in discretionary funds, which comprise the bulk of the city鈥檚 general fund.
General fund coffers received a cash infusion of about $38 million from the , the city鈥檚 lucrative, one-of-a-kind climate justice tax on large retailers.
Wheeler said Portland Street Response, which sends teams of mental health professionals and EMTs instead of armed police officers to assist people in crisis on the streets, would remain at its current staffing level under his plan.
The program last year had an operating budget of about $10 million 鈥� half of which came from one-time funding sources outside the city 鈥� but faced a potential $3 million in cuts for the coming year.
The mayor also said his budget would patch an $11 million fiscal gap faced by Portland Fire & Rescue amid a surge in overtime spending for firefighters and other personnel. Wheeler鈥檚 proposal includes hiring 10 new firefighters to help contain overtime costs and money to continue the bureau鈥檚 pilot for at least another year, he said.
That program, known as CHAT, sends pairs of fire medics 鈥� rather than firefighters and their engines 鈥� to help certain Portland residents who are known to be huge users of 911 and emergency room visits. Fire officials have also used the medic teams this year to in Old Town and other parts of Portland.
鈥淢y budget fully funds public safety bureaus and public safety programs,鈥� Wheeler said.
Additionally, the mayor said he will seek to continue investing millions of dollars into clearing homeless encampments, picking up trash and removing graffiti by establishing a new citywide program focused on livability issues branded as 鈥�.鈥�
He also touted the pending launch of a new Portland Permitting & Development Bureau, currently under the control of Commissioner Carmen Rubio. The bureau aims to streamline the city鈥檚 byzantine 鈥� and almost universally loathed 鈥� system for commercial and residential building permits, which currently spans seven separate agencies.
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