The new mayor of Portland, Oregon, defended major spending on the city’s police force while catching flak from residents over the large sum.
Presenting his first budget proposal on Wednesday, the mayor, Democrat Keith Wilson, said his $8.5 billion budget proposal, which includes $604 million for public safety services, is meant to “turn the tide” in Portland, which has almost 150 fewer cops than it did five years ago.
“We have an unsafe city,” said Mr. Wilson. “If we don’t invest in public safety, we’re not going to get that vibrancy and the livability back, which is very important for everybody.”
The proposal from the mayor, who took office in January, represents a nearly $20 million increase from last year’s budget for police, fire and other community safety initiatives. Roughly half the money intended for public safety would go toward the Portland Police Bureau.
Mr. Wilson’s proposal also seeks to add 14 more positions to the Portland Street Response team, comprised of unarmed officials who handle calls for people experiencing mental health or drug-induced crises in public.
Arbor Lodge resident Anna So testified at the budget hearing that surging funds to police will cause concerns for ethnic minorities living in the city.
“I think police introduce a kind of sense of fear for a lot of communities, especially for Black communities, brown communities, immigrant communities,” Ms. So said.
She added that more money toward law enforcement doesn’t provide a solution “for people’s everyday needs or what needs to be invested in.”
Mr. Wilson said Portland’s lack of police officers — who number 788, down from 934 in 2020 — is delaying the city’s responses to emergencies.
“When you look at response times [from] five years ago, it was less than 10 minutes. Today, it’s more than 20 minutes,” the mayor said, “In your greatest time of need, when you call a Portland Police officer, we simply don’t have enough to respond when you need an officer.”
Portland is expected to face a $65 million budget shortfall, due in part to a loss of federal COVID funds, overtime costs for the police and fire departments, and a drop in tax revenue from businesses and property owners.
One of Mr. Wilson’s most ambitious parts of his proposal, a promise to open 1,500 new shelter beds by Dec. 1, saw little resistance from Portland’s City Council.
The $24 million initiative aims to end unsheltered homelessness. Officials said Multnomah County, where Portland is, had close to 6,800 people living on the streets in February.
