Portland Voters Reject Plan to Let Residents Decide How to Spend $16 Million of City Budget

PORTLAND, Ore. — About 66% of votes counted were against Measure 26-267, a proposal to let residents decide how a portion of the city budget was spent, according to unofficial election results.

The Oregon Secretary of State’s citywide tally showed 140,838 votes, or about 66%, against the measure at the midterm election earlier this week. Those favoring the proposal numbered 72,571, or about 34%.

These are unofficial results updated November 5 at 5:45 a.m. Pacific.

Residents Would Have Had a Say Over More Than $16 Million

If successful, the proposed charter change would have required annual program funding equivalent to at least 2% of the previous year’s adopted General Fund discretionary ongoing expenses.

The City Council could have drawn that funding from across the city budget. It would have paid for the participatory budgeting process as well as projects chosen by residents.

Preliminary estimates put the program’s funding at $16.4 million in 2027–28. This amount would increase to $17 million the following financial year.

Mayor Keith Wilson Cited Budget Pressures

Portland Mayor Keith Wilson was opposed to the measure, describing the economic landscape as “the harshest budget environment in a generation.”

Wilson said the city had faced a record $170 million budget shortfall.

Painful Budget Cuts and Staff Losses of About 100 Employees

“We made painful cuts to core services and about 100 dedicated city employees lost their jobs,” Wilson said.

However, despite these stringent demands, Portland “kept every fire station open, every park and community center running, and every officer and investigator on the job,” he said.

The mayor said Measure 26-267 would undo that work and add “another layer of bureaucracy and uncertainty.”

See full Oregon election results on our Election 2026 page.