Metro news release:
Contact: Karen Kane, 503-797-1942, [email protected]
Proposed Metro budget freezes executive pay, cuts staff, asks new employees to pay PERS
Regional agency also makes strategic shifts to improve focus on economic prosperity
The Metro Council today received a staff-proposed budget that is $40 million smaller than last year’s, reduces seven full-time positions, freezes the pay of senior managers for the second time in three years, increases contributions of non-union employees for health insurance premiums, and requires all non-union employees hired on or after July 1 to contribute six percent of their salaries to PERS.
The proposed budget also shifts resources from older programs that achieved their purposes to new initiatives aimed at spurring private investments that will create good jobs, prevent urban sprawl and protect the region’s farms, forests and natural areas.
“Metro is not immune from the recession,” said Dan Cooper, Metro's acting chief operating officer. “The proposed budget keeps our focus on strategic projects that will improve our region’s economy and quality of life for years to come. I’m proud that our strong focus on fiscal accountability resulted in Standard and Poor’s recently renewing our AAA bond rating. This proposal continues our practice of sound budget management while being a good employer,” he said.
The document council receives today fulfills the agency’s commitments to promote and operate the Oregon Zoo, Oregon Convention Center, Portland Expo Center and Portland Center for the Performing Arts. Those facilities generated more than $680 million in economic impact for the region last year while supporting 6,600 jobs.
The proposed budget also continues voter-approved purchases of natural areas and projects at the Oregon Zoo that will improve animal health and safety and conserve water. The proposal balances the agency’s revenues and expenses for the coming year. It also invests the agency’s resources in five core areas to prevent urban sprawl and protect the region’s livability:
- leveraging land use and transportation investments to fight traffic congestion and stimulate community and economic development
- identifying the most effective investments that will improve the region’s economy, create bike-able, walkable and transit-supported neighborhoods while also meeting state carbon pollution reduction targets
- a Community Investment Strategy to strengthen public-private partnerships that will spur redevelopment of dilapidated buildings and brownfields, development of vacant lots, and to create needed water, sewer, parks and other public structures needed to support new and existing urban communities
- a strategy to restore and maintain more than 11,000 acres of natural and recreation areas across the region
- the development of a roadmap for responding to innovative new technologies to manage the region’s waste, reduce cost to ratepayers and prevent material from entering the waste stream in the first place.
The Metro Council will review the proposed budget and consider amendments. Public hearings on the budget proposal will be held at the regular Council meetings on Thursday, April 21, and Thursday, May 5, each beginning at 2 p.m. at Metro Regional Center, located at 600 NE Grand Ave. in Portland.
The Council is scheduled to approve a preliminary budget on May 5. The Multnomah County Tax Supervising and Conservation Commission (TSCC) will then review the budget in a public hearing on Thursday, June 9, beginning at 12:30 p.m. at Metro Regional Center.
Following review by the TSCC, the Metro Council is scheduled to adopt a final budget following a public hearing on Thursday, June 23. The new fiscal year begins on July 1.
Metro, the regional government, crosses city limits and county lines to build a resilient economy, keep nature close by and respond to a changing climate. Representing a diverse population of 1.5 million people in 25 cities and three counties, Metro's directly elected council gives voters a voice in decisions about how the region grows and communities prosper. For more information, visit www.oregonmetro.gov.