07-05-2025
Portland councilor floats loaning clean energy funds to city parks
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — One city leader is considering temporarily using money from the Portland Clean Energy Fund to support the struggling parks bureau.
District 4 Councilor Mitch Green's Healthy Parks, Healthy Climate Plan would utilize a portion of the clean energy fund as a short-term loan to cover operations for Portland Parks & Recreation.
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The release of his plan follows the City of Portland's February announcement that it is facing a $93 million budget shortfall for the next fiscal year spanning from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026. More recently, Mayor Keith Wilson proposed an $8.54 billion budget that aims to save money by going 'back to basics' and cutting expenses like staffing within the parks bureau.
Wilson also proposed reducing 'underutilized building hours, nonessential property upkeep, arborist hours, facilities cleaning, and non-critical maintenance' for PP&R, while increasing the agency's golf fees. Instead of tightening the bureau's operations, Councilor Green's plan to use the Portland Clean Energy Fund would help keep the investments going.
PCEF covers environmental projects in neighborhoods that are disproportionately impacted by climate change. It is funded through the 1% surcharge that is implemented for retailers that earn around $1 billion in nationwide revenue and $500,000 in local revenue.
The money has been a strong revenue source, with officials discovering a surplus of $540 million in clean energy funds in late 2023. Green's proposal would allow the city to take out a loan of up to $80 million from the grant program during the upcoming fiscal year, but he says the amount would be repaid before the impacted climate projects begin.
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'If we go down this road, and if this is something that the PCEF Committee is comfortable with, then that loan really should be the last resort… if during the budget amendment process, we've tried to find every opportunity to avoid unacceptable cuts,' Green said to the committee during a meeting on Wednesday. 'The mayor's budget gives us a good first starting point, but I think there are areas that I want to restore that are unacceptable cuts.'
Mayor Wilson will further discuss the budget proposal at a Portland City Council meeting on Wednesday afternoon.
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