Portland City Council today unanimously passed a resolution introduced by Commissioner Carmen Rubio to improve the types of information available to City Council as it reviews and adopts legislation.
When City bureaus submit resolutions or ordinances for Council consideration, they must provide an impact statement by answering a set of established questions. Starting in September, the statement will include a new section related to potential impacts to the economy and housing development.
The updated impact statement in the resolution was a directive of Advance Portland: A Call to Action for Inclusive Economic Growth, a five-year inclusive economic development strategy passed last year by Council.
“Portland is becoming unaffordable for too many of our residents. Greater transparency around the potential impacts of new policies on our local economy, and in particular, the cost of building housing, before City Council members cast a vote is how we can help keep growing costs in check,” Commissioner Rubio said.
In addition, the resolution adds transparency for future ballot measures that would impose a new city tax or fee:
- For ballot measures that are referred by Council, the resolution requires an external, neutral party to estimate revenue generation as well as collection, programmatic, and payer education costs. The cost of the consultant will be paid by the bureau responsible for program management.
- For city-related ballot measures that come from an external party, upon certification, the Chief Petitioners will be provided an optional opportunity to partner with the city to contract with an external, neutral party to estimate revenue generation as well as administration and payer education costs. The City will offer a one-to-one match to help cover the costs of the estimate.
“Before today, we haven’t had a consistent policy in place to do the financial analysis related to ballot measures,” Rubio said. “Now, before Portlanders cast their vote on Election Day, there is a process in place that can get voters the best available information possible.”