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Dear Portlander,

Over the past few weeks, I held 7 virtual meetings to get community feedback on the critical issues facing our city and my proposed investments aimed at helping address them through our Fiscal Year 2022-23 Budget.

The annual budget is the single most important decision any most important decision any city government makes each year. Budgeting is more than a yearly decision regarding how to spend public money, it’s a city government’s funded plan‐of‐action.

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The budget we discussed is what I refer to as a ‘budget with ears’—one that helps answer Portlander's consistent call for meaningful and immediate action to our most urgent problems and shared council priorities: homelessness, community safety, livability, and economic recovery.

This community feedback, whether received by email, call, letter, meeting or via council testimony has laid the foundation for the city’s budget. Below are highlights within each of the City Council’s shared priority areas in the approved budget:

Approved Community Safety Investments Overview:

Approved Homelessness Investments Overview:

Approved Livability Investments Overview:

Approved Economic Recovery Investments Overview:

Council is able to make amendments to this budget prior final adoption on June 15th, though every change comes with a tradeoff. These meetings were valuable opportunities to check in with the community and get feedback directly to myself and my team on what we got right and what we are missing.

Ted Wheeler