In light of the recent increase in office budgets passed by the new Portland City Council, I would like to commend the two seasoned council members who opposed this expansion out of sound financial judgment (Portland City Council approves $4.6M council and mayoral budget boost as deep cuts loom, Jan. 16). I appreciate your opposition, Steve Novick and Dan Ryan.
Passing this administrative budget increase while Portland officials knew the city would be short at least $27 million—an estimate that increased to $100 million just two days after the vote—was even more reckless than the increase itself. I’m not clear what the recently appointed council members perform in their new roles that calls for additional assistance. We know that under our new system of governance, the new council members will not be in charge of city bureaus or programs, but I imagine that the new council members themselves are unsure of the full scope of their duties. The additional ways that this funding could enhance Portlanders’ quality of life are beyond my imagination.
