The public-private partnership will support local civic leaders in developing solutions to address budget shortfalls threatening critical public services
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Reyna Lopez, Duncan Hwang, Katrina Holland and Kali Ladd discus impacts of Oregon current fiscal trajectory on schools, housing, community development, low income communities and communities of color.
Read MoreLegislators should … adopt the common-sense proposal Oregon Gov. Kate Brown outlined last month and dedicate the vast majority of this windfall to Oregon’s crushing public employee pension deficit.
Read MoreGov. Kate Brown on Thursday laid out a detailed plan for how she would like to divert more than one-third of the state’s projected record $1.4 billion “kicker” tax rebate.
Brown has previously said she would like to cap taxpayers’ kickers at $1,000 and use the roughly $500 million that would be saved to reduce the impact of public pension costs on government budgets.
Under that plan, the majority of Oregon taxpayers would still receive their full kicker rebate next year.
Read MoreWe shared an update last week about the PERS debate down in Salem and asked you for your burning questions — and boy, did you have questions.
To help get answers, we turned to North Star Civic Foundation executive director Caitlin Baggott Davis, who co-authored a recent report about the PERS crisis and how it should be addressed.
“We hope that what was outlined on Friday was a starting point, and that you will endorse a more extensive plan that recognizes the essential partnership between cities and the state for protecting and serving all Oregonians.”
Read More“Much of the intrigue in this year’s legislative session centers around lawmakers’ push to raise corporate taxes by $2 billion to better fund Oregon’s struggling K-12 schools.
“Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Gov. Kate Brown is aggressively shaking the sofa cushions of state government in a companion effort to protect that investment from being spent on school districts’ increasing pension costs.”
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At City Club of Portland, Jesse Beason, Caitlin Baggott Davis, and John Tapogna share new data about the financial challenges facing communities throughout Oregon. They discuss how philanthropic leaders in Oregon are planning to work together and with communities to center the voices and experience of community members in both defining the challenges they face and designing solutions.
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