Measure 26-267 appears on the November 2026 ballot for City of Portland voters. Dive into this information about participatory budgeting and the ballot measure specifics.
Official Title
Amends Charter: Portland residents decide 2% of city’s annual discretionary budget.
Question
Should Portland create participatory budgeting program for residents to make binding decisions to spend 2% of city’s discretionary budget?
Initiative Petition
This measure is a Portland City Charter amendment placed on the ballot with an estimated 41,860 or more valid signatures. Jim Labbe and Elona Wilson were chief petitioners.
Financial Impact
This measure does not increase or decrease taxes. It reduces the funds available for budgeting by the City Council itself. Instead, an amount equal to at least 2% of the City’s annual discretionary budget would be spent through a Participatory Budgeting process. A preliminary estimate of the minimum funds designated for Participatory Budgeting would be $16.4 million in FY 2027-28 and $17.0 million in FY 2028-29.
Probable Result of a “YES” Vote
If the measure passes, the City Charter will be amended to require that an amount equal to at least 2% of the City’s General Fund discretionary funds be spent as required by a new process known as “Participatory Budgeting.” The City Council may identify funding from the entire city budget to meet this obligation.
Probable Result of a “NO” Vote
If the measure is not approved, the Participatory Budgeting program will not go into effect. The City Council will continue to have final approval over its discretionary spending.
Background
The elected members of the Portland City Council adopt a budget each year, deciding how the City’s money will be spent. Backers of Participatory Budgeting assert that the general public in Portland has little faith in City Council spending decisions. They argue that their program will increase public knowledge of, and confidence in, City budgeting. Since any resident could propose a project, and residents could actually vote on which projects would be funded, the potential rewards of this form of engagement are meaningful.
American cities with participatory budgeting programs include Seattle, New York, Boston, and Chicago. These programs use participatory budgeting for a smaller portion of their budgets than this measure proposes, typically less than one quarter of one percent of their budgets. Closer to home, Metro, the regional government that includes Portland, has used a form of participatory budgeting to allocate bond funds.
Advocacy for Participatory Budgeting in Portland dates back to at least 2011 when the Occupy Portland movement proposed it. The City Council included Participatory Budgeting programs in its budget on several occasions, but reversed those decisions before the projects could go forward.
In 2023, the City’s Charter Commission asked the City Council to place a Participatory Budgeting program before the voters.That program would have allocated 1% of General Fund discretionary funds, instead of the 2% proposed by this ballot measure. The Council took no action. Participatory budgeting advocates then collected signatures and placed this measure on the November 2026 ballot.
Proposal
Currently, the Mayor works with the City Administrator, bureaus, and community to develop a proposed budget. The City Council then considers, amends as needed, and adopts the budget following public hearings.
If this measure is approved, the amended Charter would require that the City Council allocate an amount equal to at least 2% of the city’s adopted General Fund discretionary ongoing expenses to a Participatory Budgeting program. Program implementation costs, estimated by the supporters to be $1,000,000 a year, would be paid out of the program budget.
The City Council would establish the details of the Participatory Budgeting program by ordinance. It would design a method for choosing “budget delegates” to represent the public in the review process. All city residents would be invited to submit project proposals through public meetings and other forums that are open and accessible to all. Qualified projects can be specific to a City Council district or apply city-wide. The budget delegates would work with City staff, in an open process, to identify a limited number of feasible projects to place on a ballot. City residents would then have an opportunity to choose which among those projects are to be funded. The selection process is not subject to state or local election laws. It would be open to all City residents, including those ineligible to vote because they are non-citizen residents or under the age of 18. No minimum age is set for participation. Winning projects would be implemented by the City or its agents.
Funding of the Participatory Budgeting program would begin in Fiscal Year 2027-2028.The first Participatory Budgeting project selection process would have to begin by July 2028. The Council would also adopt a process for choosing an oversight committee which would include residents from all four City Council districts.
While the size of the Participatory Budgeting program budget is determined by the size of the General Fund discretionary budget, the measure allows the Council to use other funding sources if available.
About This Report: This nonpartisan report was prepared by volunteer members of the League of Women Voters of Portland.
