Terry J. Harris
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trryjhrrs.bsky.social
Terry J. Harris
@trryjhrrs.bsky.social
1.7K followers 960 following 3.5K posts
Portland, Baltimore, Oregon, Idaho, green, blue, law, government, cats, kittens.
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trryjhrrs.bsky.social
But look at this chart, from a CBO letter linked to in the article. People at top end of the income scale is getting a massive windfall, on the backs of people on the lower end. Oregon could and should plug the budget gap by taxing that windfall. Call it the Big Beautiful Surcharge. 3/
Charts showing annual changes in resources per household, by income group, resulting from the Trump tax cuts.
November 23, 2025 at 7:19 PM
trryjhrrs.bsky.social
Some time ago, Marc cursed me with knowing about this, so now you need to know about this. There's gonna be a big springtime retirement party this year.
27 pay date list - the next big retirement opportunity is May 2026
November 23, 2025 at 5:49 PM
trryjhrrs.bsky.social
Anyway, that's my theory. Change my mind. 8/8
Change my mind meme with my hypothesis about the funds
November 22, 2025 at 7:08 PM
trryjhrrs.bsky.social
And here's the "Housing Investment Fund" budget status as part of the technical adjustment ordinance passed this week. ⤵️

(There's a lot going on in this chart that I have not been tracking and cannot explain, but there's certainly not $21M floating around here.) 6/
Revenue / expenses for the Housing Investment Fund.
November 22, 2025 at 7:08 PM
trryjhrrs.bsky.social
According to the 2019 Ordinance 189650, the rental registration fees go into the "Housing Investment Fund." ⤵️ 5/
Revenue from the fee, net of Council-approved Revenue Division collection costs, shall be directly deposited as it is collected into the Housing Investment Fund and used to fund the Housing Bureau's Rental Services Office.
November 22, 2025 at 7:08 PM
trryjhrrs.bsky.social
What does "rental registration fees" have to do with "federal resources"? Apparently it is "using those funds in order to meet federal requirements." What federal requirements?

(I DO NOT KNOW but it SOUNDS LIKE some sort of matching funds? Which might have needed to be segregated somehow?) 3/
In response to questions from The Oregonian/OregonLive about how the agency lost track of the dollars, city spokesperson Elliott Kozuch said the rental registration fund’s unexpected growth coincided with the Housing Bureau’s need to administer a significant amount of one-time federal funding during the COVID-19 pandemic. Agency officials prioritized using those funds in order to meet federal requirements, Kozuch said.
November 22, 2025 at 7:08 PM
trryjhrrs.bsky.social
I'm going to start from this quote from the "city spokesperson."

1. “The complexity and scale of these federal resources"??
2. "rental registration fund cash balance"??
“The complexity and scale of these federal resources contributed to the challenges in monitoring the rental registration fund cash balance,” Kozuch said.
November 22, 2025 at 7:08 PM
trryjhrrs.bsky.social
Guys, the Portland Art Museum Rothko addition is amazing. The new exhibits are amazing. Members day today was packed. Go when you get the chance.
A photo of a woman taking a photo of the sculpture at the entrance to the Rothko addition to the Portland Art Museum An actual Rothko painting in the Rothko exhibition in the new Rothko addition to the Portland Art Museum An artsy Portland couple poses in front of a spectacular artwork at the Portland Art Museum
November 20, 2025 at 2:27 AM
trryjhrrs.bsky.social
P.S. One last (key) thing ...
8. The capital improvement plan
November 19, 2025 at 5:57 PM
trryjhrrs.bsky.social
Finally,
7. Usage and attendance trend
November 19, 2025 at 5:42 PM
trryjhrrs.bsky.social
5. Usage by client type
6. Attendance by type
November 19, 2025 at 5:41 PM
trryjhrrs.bsky.social
4. Budget overview
5. Management expenses
November 19, 2025 at 5:37 PM
trryjhrrs.bsky.social
2. Budget trendlines
3. Revenues
November 19, 2025 at 5:33 PM
trryjhrrs.bsky.social
Other interesting charts and graphs.
1. Days open 2023
November 19, 2025 at 5:30 PM
trryjhrrs.bsky.social
I found this down a rabbit hole (looking at workgroup meeting slides and summaries). Two calculations, not including capital, depending on different ways of allocating expenses by building. (Seems like rationalizing a lot of arm-waving, but probably in the ballpark)
November 19, 2025 at 5:26 PM
trryjhrrs.bsky.social
Here's the resolution:

Either the City and Metro negotiate a "termination agreement" to get out of the IGA by the end of the year, or Metro terminates the IGA unilaterally. Either way, the City takes over Metro's role July 1, 2027. 2/

oregonmetro.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=...
BE IT RESOLVED that the Metro Council: 1. Approves the transfer of the management of Portland’5 to the City and delegates authority to the Metro Chief Operating Officer to enter into a written agreement, subject to the approval of the Office of Metro Attorney, that terminates the Fourth Amended Consolidation Agreement and transitions management of Portland’5 back to the City as of July 1, 2027; 2. In the alternative, approves and delegates authority to the Metro Chief Operating Officer to provide notice to the City on December 31, 2025, that Metro is unilaterally terminating the Fourth Amended Consolidation Agreement as of June 30, 2027, if a written agreement to terminate the Fourth Amended Consolidation Agreement is not executed by December 30, 2025. 3. Instructs the Metro Chief Operating Officer and Metro staff to take all required actions to terminate the Fourth Amended Consolidation Agreement and transition management of Portland’5 back to the City. ADOPTED by the Metro Council this 20th day of November 2025.
November 19, 2025 at 4:07 AM
trryjhrrs.bsky.social
Okay, I haven't been following it closely, but this slide in the Arts & Economy meeting today caught me off-guard: Apparently Metro is voting THIS WEEK to terminate the IGA with City of Portland to get out of the business of operating the Portland'5 performance venues. 1/x
Next steps • Active negotiation for mutual termination agreement to dissolve City/Metro IGA. • Metro Council Ordinance to authorize termination by mutual agreement by December 30, 2025, or unilateral termination by December 31, 2025. • June 30, 2027 – City/Metro IGA ends. • July 1, 2027 – City takes full responsibility for management of Portland’5 Centers for the Arts (either directly or by installing a new contracted operator).
November 19, 2025 at 4:07 AM
trryjhrrs.bsky.social
This is an insane two-paragraph description of 2025 National Guard bureaucracy.
The Oregon National Guard members ending their missions will travel to Fort Hood in Texas for the demobilization process, which includes medical and mental health screenings and administrative duties like dealing with their pay, said Lt. Col. Stephen Bomar, director of public affairs for the Oregon Military Department. If Oregon National Guard troops had been asked by the governor to perform an in-state mission, like responding to a fire or a flood, they would stay in Oregon to demobilize when that mission wound down, Bomar said. But there is no place in Oregon for National Guard members to demobilize from a federal mission, Bomar said, so troops will travel out of state like they would when returning from an international deployment. The federal government picks up that tab, he said.
November 19, 2025 at 12:24 AM
trryjhrrs.bsky.social
As the Portland City Council prepares for yet another probably lengthy and probably contentious session about the City's budget on Thursday, here's an unpopular opinion for you: the Council needs to do MORE budget amendment legislating, but APART from the fall and spring "technical" adjustments. 1/
November 17, 2025 at 12:11 AM
trryjhrrs.bsky.social
I feel like my man Archie could use some challenge to his comfort
A too comfortable gray tabby cat sitting smugly on a cat tree knowing he doesn’t need to “cover his tracks”
November 15, 2025 at 8:38 AM
trryjhrrs.bsky.social
Sad.
Posting indicates that the DANDY license plate is now available Posting indicates that the WARHOL license plate is now available
November 14, 2025 at 1:08 AM
trryjhrrs.bsky.social
A couple of key findings from a consultant's report published last year on the Portland's budget process transition to the new form of government. No reason. Totally random post.
Fostering Trust, Transparency, and Accountability to Support Role Delineation Elected leaders and members of the public should be empowered to focus on policy, programmatic and service level goals. Administrators should be empowered to provide information that allows budgets to align with those goals. The legislative budget conversation should move from a conversation about dollars and cents to a conversation about the impact of allocations. Incorporating strategic planning, priority and performance goal setting ahead of and into the budget process will facilitate this transition. Additionally, trust, transparency and accountability in budget development and monitoring processes will be essential in ensuring both sides are empowered to focus on their ascribed role and work together to improve outcomes for Portlanders. The strategies to enable trust, transparency and accountability include enhanced budget education and information, more consistent and transparent financial monitoring practices, and an elevated focus on financial, programmatic and performance reporting. Providing accessible information on the budget process and budget data facilitates a base level of understanding for the public and elected leaders which is critical for transparency and for budget process preparation. More detail on deploying these strategies is provided in the Future Budget Process and Implementation Plan sections of this report. Budget decision-making is where policymaking is being developed, rather than having the budget be a tool to implement policy.
November 12, 2025 at 9:47 PM
trryjhrrs.bsky.social
She looks like our sweet old one-eyed cat Claude who we lost a few years ago and who I still miss every day. He was VERY soft.
A photo from 4 years ago of a VERY SOFT medium-haired, one-eyed, 16-years-old at the time, brown and white tabby cat named Claude.
November 11, 2025 at 4:51 PM
trryjhrrs.bsky.social
P.P.S This is a weird rationalization for not doing any outreach.
Community Impacts and Community Involvement This legislation will provide taxpayers with confidence that the City will protect the confidentiality of their tax return information. No outreach was made as House Bill 4031 makes this legislation necessary.
November 10, 2025 at 1:39 AM
trryjhrrs.bsky.social
This item purports to conform city code with new changes in state code so that normally confidential business license info will (still?) be able to be shared to BES "to allow the bureau to perform the compliance activities it is required to perform."

OKAY BUT WHAT COMPLIANCE ACTIVITIES?
2/2
The actual text of the code change. 18. The Bureau of Environmental Services or its authorized representative solely for the purposes of oƯicial correspondence and to perform compliance activity mandated by the federal or state governments the name, address, phone number, and industry code of active businesses. From the findings clauses: 4. Amending City code per Exhibit A will allow the Revenue Division to share certain nonfinancial Business License Tax Return information with the bureau. The information provided will aid the bureau in performing the compliance activities it is required to perform. The information shared will only be used for the bureau's compliance activities and must not be disclosed outside the bureau for any other purpose. From the Background Information: The City's Bureau of Environmental Services is required by both federal and state law to perform certain compliance activities. Information sources available to support the bureau's compliance activities are limited. The purpose of this legislation is to allow sharing certain nonfinancial tax return information to allow the bureau to perform the compliance activities it is required to perform. The information shared may only be used for the bureau's compliance activities and is not allowed to be disclosed further for any other purpose.
November 10, 2025 at 1:31 AM