Portland will resume its effort to craft a budget early next month.
The City Council’s Finance Committee will meet remotely on Aug. 5 to begin putting together a spending package. Because of the coronavirus pandemic and its likely impact on state and municipal revenues, the state gave municipalities more time to prepare budgets, which typically took effect on July 1.
Portland carried over its 2019-2020 budget and, in March, instituted a hiring freeze and cut nonessential spending. The city then furloughed staff beginning in March and has frozen cost-of-living pay adjustments and performance pay increases for non-union workers.
The Finance Committee plans to meet at least three times in August and then will hold a public hearing on its budget proposal Sept. 2. The goal is to get a budget to the City Council for a vote on Sept. 21.
City Manager Jon Jennings’ original budget called for a 1.8 percent property tax increase, but after the pandemic hit and the city was given more time to come up with a budget, officials set a goal of adopting a budget with no tax hike.
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