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METRO STAFF PROPOSES TAX CUT: To help remediate homelessness, high-earning taxpayers in the tri-county area might be paying less each year, but for longer. That’s the upshot of recommendations by Marissa Madrigal, chief operating officer at the Metro regional government, to the Metro Council, the seven elected officials who oversee the supportive housing services tax passed in 2020. The 1% marginal tax, levied on any taxable income above $125,000 for individuals and $200,000 for couples, pays for shelter space, rent assistance, advocacy and mental health. Larger businesses also pay. Change is in the offing because the tax has raised more cash than expected and Multnomah County, for one, has been slow to spend it. As a result, Metro is sitting on more than $400 million. Madrigal’s recommendations: Cut the 1% tax rate and index the tax to inflation so that income above the thresholds isn’t taxed just because prices rise. Another recommendation: Keep the tax around longer. As approved by voters, the supportive housing services tax is set to expire in 2030. Madrigal recommends extending it so developers could bank on collecting rent assistance for longer, spurring construction of affordable housing. Madrigal also recommends that some portion of Metro’s dollars be used to build, buy and preserve housing, a departure from the original measure, which focused on services. Like all of Metro’s supportive housing services dollars, such money would be directed to Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties to come up with strategies for creating more “deeply affordable” housing, she said. Change could come in May, Madrigal says, when Metro should refer changes to voters.
STATE MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM BACKS UP ONCE AGAIN: For two decades, Oregon has been under a federal order requiring that mentally ill criminal defendants be sent to the state’s psychiatric hospital for treatment within seven days of arriving in jail. For the last year or so, the state was successful at doing this, thanks to a new policy of releasing Oregon State Hospital patients early. No longer. As of June, the length of time defendants are waiting to get into the state hospital has drifted upwards of 12 days. The reason: more demand. “The driving factor is the number of orders placed by counties,” hospital spokeswoman Amber Shoebridge says. More than 126 people were sent to the hospital in May, the first time the monthly total had exceeded 100 in at least a year. The biggest contributor to the recent spike: Washington County, where in May and June judges have sent Salem double the normal number of patients. The county’s district attorney, Kevin Barton, says he’s not sure why. “We’re not doing anything differently. It’s just business as usual,” he tells WW.
RECORD HEAT SCALDS PORTLAND: By the time you read this, the four-day streak of near-100-degree-plus heat in Portland should have come to an end. “We’re forecasting a little bit of a cooldown,” says National Weather Service meteorologist Dave Bishop, thanks to low-pressure air swinging in from Western Canada. Still, as of press time, the heat hadn’t let up. “Dangerous and oppressive heat persists today across much of SW Washington and NW Oregon,” NWS noted in its forecast. Ultimately, this won’t be the longest streak of above-100-degree days—that was a five-day period in 1941. But the heat wave broke daily records, and has been connected to five deaths in Multnomah County. It comes only a few years after the heat dome of 2021 killed 72 people. “There does appear to be some sort of significant pattern change,” Bishop says.
OREGON DEMOCRATS STAND BY THEIR MAN: In the two weeks since President Joe Biden’s debate performance on June 27 raised doubts about his fitness to run the country or defeat former President Donald Trump, a growing number of Democratic members of Congress called for him to exit the race. But not in Oregon. In response to an inquiry from WW, both of Oregon’s U.S. senators, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, said Monday that they supported Biden remaining at the top of the Democratic Party ticket. “It is President Biden’s decision whether he will remain in the 2024 race,” Merkley said in a statement to WW. “He has said that he will. As long as he’s the nominee, I will do everything I can to help him win.” Three of the four members of Oregon’s Democratic caucus in the U.S. House—Suzanne Bonamici, Val Hoyle and Andrea Salinas—didn’t respond to WW’s question. U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer took issue with the premise of the question and didn’t answer it. “The question should be about if the 37-time convicted felon Donald Trump, who for half an hour lied on national television and was unable to say if he would accept the election results, will step aside,” Blumenauer said in a statement.
LAST CHANCE TO NOMINATE FOR SKIDMORE PRIZE: The deadline is fast approaching to nominate a community champion for the Skidmore Prize. The prize, part of WW’s Give!Guide, honors young nonprofit professionals out there making a big difference in our city and region. The deadline is Friday, July 12. Know a stellar someone who deserves a little recognition (plus some cash)? Visit giveguide.org and click on Skidmore Prize to submit your nomination.