The Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF) was created to save low-income and Portlanders of color from the ravages of climate change, but with approval of the $8.2 billion City of Portland budget this week, the fund has also managed to save all Portlanders from fiscal doom. And it might have saved part of Mayor Ted Wheeler’s legacy, allowing him to avoid severe cuts in his final budget as leader of our city.
Those cuts might have hit the Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) hardest. Back in September, PBOT Commissioner-in-charge Mingus Mapps and agency staff painted a very bleak picture of cuts needed to fill a $32 million budget gap that included laying off dozens of employees and even letting landslides go unswept. The budget approved by council on Wednesday includes over $49 million for PBOT thanks to PCEF. That’s in addition to previous allocations that bring the total funding from PCEF into PBOT coffers to $142 million.
Wheeler’s final budget was approved with over $600 million in PCEF revenue going directly toward city projects (see below). In a City Council work session on PCEF Tuesday, program staffers revealed PCEF accounts for 155 City of Portland FTEs.
When it comes to transportation, an $80 million slice of PCEF revenue has already been set-aside for an electric bike rebate program and support for PBOT’s Transportation Wallet. In this budget, PBOT was able to save 31 positions with support of $8 million from PCEF. They also used PCEF funds to pay for $2 million in streetlight expenses which were previously funded through the General Fund. That freed up PBOT GF dollars to pay for other things like public plaza costs, green space management, graffiti cleanup, and small safety projects.
Simply put, PCEF allowed PBOT to pay important bills and avoid burning a lot of political capital. There were still reductions made to PBOT’s budget — about $6.7 million and 4 FTE — but those are spread across several different service areas and considered relatively manageable.
“The City of Portland could not have balanced its budget without your direct guidance and your leadership,” an effusive Wheeler beamed into a meeting of the PCEF Advisory Committee last night. “What could have just been a bloodbath of a budget for us turned out to make some really good new key investments.”
“I really wish I could do more — throw you a party, bake you a cake or something else,” Wheeler continued. “I really do appreciate you personally. Thank you all.”
Even with an eventful week full of smiles, mayoral praise, and photo-ops, PCEF leaders and committee members’ work isn’t over. There’s still unease about PCEF being used as a slush fund for city bureaus and its largest critic, Commissioner Rene Gonzalez, isn’t likely drop his attempts to mold the program into a shape he prefers. Tensions around Gonzalez’s efforts to undermine PCEF by referring it back to voters (a move Wheeler referred to last night when he told the committee, “I think it would be a tragedy to have this go back for a referral because people are just angry and edgy”) have cooled over the past week, thanks in large part to Tuesday’s work session where none of his probing questions could crack PCEF’s armor.
But that doesn’t mean PCEF committee members won’t have other battles to fight.
Along with keeping city bureau budget makers at bay, a new wrinkle in the idea to borrow off of interest earned by the PCEF fund to pay for non-climate city expenditures that was floated a few months ago by Commissioner Carmen Rubio, is back on the table. The approved budget was balanced by using $7 million in earned interest from PCEF — a maneuver that requires an amendment to city code that will need to be discussed before the budget is final in June.