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Voters in and around Portland renewed funding for teachers and road repairs and to approve new money for the levees that keep the Columbia River from flooding Portland International Airport and the neighborhoods around it.
A $380 million bond to improve infrastructure at the Oregon Zoo was on track for approval by a narrower margin.
Measure 26-246, which renews the supplemental property tax that pays for about 660 teachers and other staff at Portland Public Schools, was passing 70% to 30% as of 8:30 am Wednesday. Renewal of the 10-cent-per-gallon city gas tax, first passed by Portland voters in 2016, was up 71% to 29%. The property tax to maintain 100-year-old Columbia River levees in Multnomah County was winning 67% to 33%.
The zoo bond was up only narrowly, 52% to 48%.
The measures passed despite anti-tax sentiment. Late last year, Gov. Tina Kotek called for a three-year moratorium on all new taxes. To comply, Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson has said she will seek to put off an increase in the Preschool for All tax that is scheduled for 2026.
Three of the four measures were crucial to maintaining services.
Without the supplemental education money, which voters first approved in 2000, Portland Public Schools would have had to cut teachers. The district already plans to lay off about 100 employees because of a budget shortfall created in part by Portland teachers’ new labor contract.
City roads, already pockmarked with potholes, would have suffered even more without a renewal of the gas tax, which is expected to raise $70.5 million for maintenance and new safety features.
If voters didn’t approve the $150 million levy for levees, the Urban Flood Safety & Water Quality District would have lost $100 million in federal matching funds to repair and reinforce the berms. And the levees would have lost federal accreditation, driving up the price of flood insurance.
The Oregon Zoo, meantime, wouldn’t close without the new money. The $380 million from new bonds, to be paid off by property owners in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties, is earmarked for creating better living conditions for animals.