Portland Jobs Saved Under Revised Budget

A revised city budget will help to save many Portland jobs (Click here).

Earlier this week, Mayor Sam Adams released a revised budget that will uphold public safety priorities and continue to make investments in human services. The new budget will restore several Portland Police Bureau positions that were going to be cut under earlier versions.

"This is a problem-solving budget from a can-do police chief, a new approach that saves the sworn officer positions," Adams said.

In particular, the budget will restore funding for 25 sworn police officer positions, the Police Bureau's Mounted Patrol Unit, Cold Case Homicide Unit, and the school resources officer program. The jobs were able to be saved after Police Chief Mike Reese revised the Police Bureau budget to focus on administrative and overhead reductions.

The Mounted Patrol Unit restoration is possible because of the reinstatement of the sworn officer positions and a $100,000 private-sector donation.

"This budget is about protecting the operational integrity of the Portland Police Bureau" Reese said. "Units like Mounted Patrol and Cold Case are what Portlanders want and expect out of their police bureau, and our priority is keeping officers – newly hired and veterans alike – on the streets as peacekeepers."

In order to balance the overall budget, Adams cut some previously proposed expenditures and instead relied on the proceeds of a bond refunding. In addition to the police positions, the new budget also restores a fire station that was slated to close, as well as one of two rescue units.