Multnomah County leaders voted against cuts that would have significantly impacted the Office of Sustainability, but the office still took a hit in the final county budget passed Thursday.

The $4 billion budget approved by the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners for the 2026 fiscal year prioritizes public safety, homelessness and health programs.

But balancing the budget proved difficult for commissioners as they worked to close a nearly $77.3 million budget gap. According to the county, it’s facing budget shortfalls because of declining property tax revenues. Inflation has also impacted the county’s budget.

For the past month, it looked as though the Office of Sustainability, the county’s environmental and climate action office, might be gutted or significantly trimmed. Commissioners Meghan Moyer, Shannon Singleton and Julia Brim-Edwards all brought forth proposals that would cut funding from the office.

The Office of Sustainability has several areas of focus. It creates strategies for responding to extreme weather events, like the first-ever heat vulnerability index, which identified the county’s areas most vulnerable to heat. The office also applies for federal and state grant funding to support environmental programs, like replacing wood-burning stoves and planting trees that can be used in the county.

Moyer’s proposal would have made the deepest cuts, totaling about $676,000, and eliminating nearly all staff positions. The office’s operating budget is just over $1 million. That proposal prompted more than 50 groups representing environmental, climate and health justice to call on the commissioners to oppose the proposals.

Moyer accused the office of “greenwashing,” or giving misleading information about the environmental benefits of its work, during a recent interview with KGW. She also pushed back on the idea that the work the office has done has been “incredibly effective.” Moyer said her proposed cuts would not eliminate Multnomah County’s sustainability efforts, and said the programs under the office should be embedded in all departments across the county.

Moyer withdrew that proposal as the board was nearing the end of a marathon of work sessions to balance the budget. Instead, she then proposed cutting about $260,000 from the Office of Sustainability to restore the county’s sexually transmitted infections clinic and community services program.

“I wish that the state would acknowledge our expertise, the service we are providing for the state and that we not have to propose any reduction to this important service, we not only serve people outside of Multnomah County, but we advise clinicians regionally because of the expertise of the work at this clinic,” Moyer said on Thursday.

That amendment failed to pass 1 to 4.

“The fact that we have to continue to backfill reduced funding from state and other partners at the county, which is causing proposed reductions for things that I know are critical services for the county like office of sustainability that does critical work in our community, to me that balance isn’t there,” Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said.

Commissioner Vince Jones-Dixon, who represents East Multnomah County, said while he supports funding the STI clinical and community service program, he did not support cutting the sustainability office to make that happen.

“Learning more and more just about the impact that the work of the sustainability office, it’s not one versus the other,” he said.

Some residents of his district are outside of Portland city boundaries, and thus disqualified from benefiting from the Portland Clean Energy Fund.

“That’s the only reason why I will be voting no on this currently,” he said.

In total, the sustainability office will see about $257,195 in funding reductions next fiscal year, which equates to losing 1.5 full-time employees.

The cuts eliminate a vacant climate resilience coordinator position as well as cutting about $114,000 in the office’s operating budget to provide funding for domestic violence survivor programs and employment services. The cuts were proposed by Vega Pederson, Brim-Edwards, Moyer and Singleton.

“This is not about pitting homelessness against sustainability against food security against healthcare,” Singleton said in a statement. “What I presented in my amendments are policy decisions to ensure that we move forward on housing justice, access to critical services that the federal government has divested in, and making sure that we are protecting our most vulnerable community members who are often the first hit during economic downturns.”

Environmental, climate and health advocates say while they are disappointed the office will see cuts, they are grateful the cuts weren’t deeper.

Oregon CUB, a consumer advocacy group, works with the Multnomah County Office of Sustainability to help create utility policies that benefit lower-income households, such as bill discount programs. As energy bills continue to rise, Oregon CUB works with other advocates and utilities to help create better discount programs to help families afford their energy bills.

“CUB works with the Office of Sustainability nearly every day. Their expertise is vital to working toward a just energy transition that keeps affordability as a cornerstone,” Oregon Citizens Utility Board’s Energy Advocate and Analyst Sarah Wochele said. “We see firsthand the impact this Office has not just in Multnomah County, but its advocacy reverberates across Oregon.”

Nakisha Nathan, the co-executive director of Neighbors for Clean Air, said any cuts to the office will have negative impacts on their ability to work with communities. Neighbors for Clean Air was part of more than 50 groups calling on the board to oppose deep cuts.

Nathan said the office has done a lot of work to build trust within the community as well as bring in millions of dollars to continue the work and partnerships the office focuses on.

“I’m concerned that that work is going to be harmed. It’s going to be harder for them to do it. It’s going to be harder for them to do this work that is important right now given how much more we’re having to fight,” she said. “This is not the time to be pulling money away from a team that is so impactful. It’s never a good time to do it. This time, especially, [with] what we’re having to face with federal cuts, it’s just compounding it.”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/06/13/multnomah-county-office-sustainability-budget-cuts-climate-outcry/