Multnomah County is looking to cut positions and possibly lay off employees for the second year in a row, and it may be on track for more cuts every year for the next few years. The cuts are in response to a “structural deficit” in which increases in materials and payroll costs outstrip increases in property tax revenues.
Under the Measure 5 and 50 amendments to the Oregon constitution, property taxes can only ever go up 3% a year even when property values soar, but there’s no similar limit on how much they can go down when property values decline. Property tax declines were rare to non-existent until the COVID-19 pandemic took a bite out of commercial real estate, especially office space. When buildings like downtown Portland’s “Big Pink” sell for a fraction of their previous sale price, that can spur commercial property owners to seek new assessments and lead to a dramatic drop in property taxes they pay.
Last November, Multnomah County’s budget office forecast a $10.5 million shortfall in the 2026-2027 budget and even bigger shortfalls for the next three years. To prepare for that, Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson asked county departments to identify potential cuts. That resulted in termination notices for 190 employees early last month.
AFSCME Local 88, the county’s largest union, is working to minimize the impact of those cuts on members. Lead stewards from each department are meeting with county human resources managers to make sure the union contract is followed. Under Local 88’s contract with the county, employees have seniority-based rights to bump into other positions they’re qualified for. With careful coordination, members can end up filling vacant positions. Last year, just 12 county employees ended up being laid off, even though cuts initially threatened 275 positions.
Decisions about the cuts may not be finalized until the County Board of Commissioners has its final vote June 4 on the budget for the fiscal year that runs July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027.
Why is this propagandized & not mentioning the reality of the fear less senior employees face when someone in their same position is laid off? And that seniority can be a few months, or a day even, and that merit, team needs, partnerships do not matter at all when someone has that seniority? This policy is outrageous & helps maintain whiteness at the county (through the legacy that comes with lengthy seniority and through the reality of the kind of people with minimal actual seniority but that are WILLING to just bump perfectly qualified & well-performing junior minority colleagues out of their jobs). There is a case this cycle that is perfectly illustrative of the absolutely awful consequences of a policy like this being implemented. Dig a little…