FY 2024 Adopted Budget Notes
The following Budget Notes were adopted by the Board of County Commissioners on June 8, 2023. Board discussion and deliberation is an integral part of the County budget process. Budget notes are used to request future policy discussions, identify areas that the Board would like to explore in depth during the year, and identify funding placed in General Fund contingency for future investments. Budget notes can also be used to document discussions and decisions made by the Board during budget worksessions and provide direction to departments in achieving the Board’s policy goals during the fiscal year.
American Rescue Plan Funding
To ensure that the American Rescue Plan funding aligns with the County’s identified priorities, the Board will continue to focus any identified FY 2023 year end American Rescue Plan underspending on five priority areas:
● Restore Services Impacted by Budget Reductions
● Critical County Infrastructure
The Board acknowledges that the majority of the final year of the Federal assistance has been programmed towards serving the most vulnerable people in our community because these communities continue to be disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. Throughout the crisis, Multnomah County has had the unique local responsibility of both leading the public health response and responding to the unprecedented need in the community for shelter, housing, food, and healthcare. These services are lifelines for individuals and families who face increased housing insecurity, food instability, trauma, and inadequate access to healthcare. Additionally, the pandemic has created the need for expanded investments to respond to acute COVID-19 impacts, older adults, those experiencing child abuse, domestic and sexual violence, and those impacted by increased gun violence in our community.
A core component of the Board's strategy will continue to be Emergency Rent Assistance. As this funding declines at the State and Federal level, the County remains committed to Emergency Rent Assistance because we know that housing is linked to a number of positive health and social outcomes for individuals, families, and communities and that the COVID-19 pandemic initially resulted in unprecedented numbers of layoffs and furloughs, leading to even deeper racial disparities and challenges to pay rent and remain stably housed.
The Budget Office is directed to notify the Board of the final American Rescue Plan balance as soon as the 2023 fiscal year is finalized with the Chief Financial Officer's office.
Financial and Budget Reporting
Financial monitoring is important to ensure that the financial, operational and capital plans that were developed and approved for implementation as part of the budget process are being implemented. Financial monitoring is crucial for accountability. Recognizing the Board of County Commissioners needs more routine and standardized financial information related to year end spending and budget-to-actuals reporting, the Board directs the Budget Office to coordinate with departments to create a report mid-fiscal year that provides a summary of the FY 2024 one-time-only General Fund budget, American Rescue Plan budget and projected expenditures.
Also, in alignment with the Chair’s Mission, Vision, and Values revisioning work, the Budget Office, in partnership with the Chief Operating Officer, the County departments and the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, will explore options to coordinate and develop countywide budget-to-actuals reports. While those reports currently exist within each department and at the highest countywide level during the annual processes, the Board is interested in exploring how to access the data in new and updated formats. The Budget Office will identify potential barriers and propose solutions that will facilitate the review.
Multnomah County Animal Services Staffing
The Board requests a briefing from Multnomah County Animal Services (MCAS) to report on progress made in hiring staff to fill the 10.00 FTE positions added in the FY 2024 budget as part of an update to the Board about the implementation phase of the MCAS review currently in progress. Phase 1 of the MCAS review included budget and staffing recommendations, reflected in MCAS’ requested budget, which are anticipated to support MCAS’ ability to meet minimum care standards for feeding,
cleaning, enrichment, and to maintain essential shelter operations and services. The briefing requested by this budget note should provide the Board with an update on hiring, outstanding vacancies, and measurable improvements associated with increased staffing. This briefing may be combined with a briefing to the Board at the conclusion of Phase 3 of the MCAS review on or before November 30, 2023.
Budget Note Response: Presentation to Board of County Commissioners on September 26, 2023
Link to Board Briefing September 26, 2023
Animal Services Budget Note Response (444.02 KB)
Animal Services Briefing September 2023 (1.21 MB)
Deputy District Attorney Uniformed PERS
Deputy District Attorneys (DDAs) are frequently statutorily defined as “law enforcement” throughout Oregon. However, unlike other law enforcement personnel including police officers, parole officers, corrections officers, firefighters, and 9-1-1 dispatchers, DDAs do not receive Uniformed PERS benefits. Oregon PERS may include DDAs in the Uniformed PERS classification in the future, which will increase personnel costs for Multnomah County. The FY 2024 Budget includes $700,000 in one-time-only general fund contingency to cover increased personnel costs. If Oregon PERS elects to include DDAs in the Uniformed PERS classification, this budget note requests the District Attorney’s Office report back to the Board of County Commissioners on the impacts. The briefing must be completed within 3 months of the Oregon PERS’ decision. Upon implementation, these ongoing costs will be factored into the County’s five year General Fund Forecast.
Link to Board Briefing November 9, 2023
Agenda Placement Request - MCDA Uniformed PERS (603.53 KB)
MCDA Uniformed PERS Budget Modification Contingency Memo (120.18 KB)
MCDA Briefing Presentation (986.94 KB)
Body Worn Cameras
The Multnomah County District Attorney’s (MCDA) Office currently reviews body worn camera footage for all cases referred by partner law enforcement agencies including Gresham PD, Port of Portland PD, and PSU Police. The Portland Police Bureau (PPB) is set to begin a body worn camera pilot program including 165 cameras in FY 2024, which will significantly increase the District Attorney’s Office’s review workload. In addition, the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office anticipates implementing a body worn camera pilot during FY 2024. The FY 2024 budget includes $726,000 of one-time-only general fund contingency to support increased staffing as necessary to accommodate increased workload. The Board of County Commissioners requests the District Attorney’s Office provide a report on the status of both the Portland Police Bureau and Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office body worn camera programs, their impact to County personnel, and updated budget estimates and impacts for FY 2025 and beyond.
Multnomah County District Attorney's Briefing:
Link to Board Briefing November 9, 2023
Agenda Placement Request - MCDA Body Worn Cameras (641.06 KB)
MCDA Body Worn Cameras Budget Modification Contingency Memo (122.96 KB)
MCDA Briefing Presentation (986.94 KB)
Multnomah County Sheriff's Office Briefing:
Agenda Placement Request - MCSO Body Worn Cameras (90.43 KB)
MCSO Body Worn Cameras Briefing Presentation (1007.38 KB)
Expanded Support for Shelter Program Partners
The Board of County Commissioners placed $405,000 in the General Fund Contingency dedicated to a pilot for Expanded Support for Shelter Program Partners. This funding would support a provider or coalition of providers offering services in close proximity to a Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS) shelter program in development. As Multnomah County expands shelter programs, we have prioritized meaningful engagement with communities surrounding sites under development as a key to the long-term success of those programs. This funding would support deeper partnership and collaboration by proactively building capacity in community partners, which can enhance the success of JOHS shelter programs and better meet the needs of the surrounding community. The Board requests that JOHS further explore the feasibility of this concept, and report back to the Board on or before December 31, 2023 with a recommendation.
Innovative Transitional Housing Projects
One of the primary obstacles to moving people off the streets is the lack of a wide array of housing models that suits people with different needs, including people in recovery, people experiencing mental health challenges, elders that would benefit from co-housing, and people who need additional on-site services to address the issues created by long periods of unsheltered homelessness. And we need new models for providing housing as quickly and affordably as possible.
Strategic investments in innovative housing models are an excellent use of one-time-only funds. This use will yield long-term benefit - by providing additional inventory, filling gaps left by existing models, and creating a template for additional development.
The additional JOHS development team will assess available options and make recommendations for deployment of capital funds. The team will include internal partners and may also include external experts in real estate and/or development.
The following areas outline possible directions for the team:
- Capital purchase of residential home, motel, hotel, co-housing, or other building to serve (a) individuals who are exiting homelessness and receiving some form of behavioral health treatment, including people in recovery; (b) individuals who are involved in the criminal legal system; or c) elders or other individuals who have experienced long periods of homelessness and would benefit from housing alternatives not currently available.
- Capstone funding for an affordable housing project to provide the final amount needed to complete a purchase or renovation. Priority could be given to those projects which have made significant progress in the permitting and design process, have a swift timeline to completion, and provide units at a relatively low cost.
The Joint Office will provide the Board of County Commissioners a detailed report and recommendation by December 31, 2023.
Progress Report on Contracting Practices
Purchasing and contracting is an essential part of the work of Multnomah County. It is the lever that we use to partner with community based organizations, vastly expanding the amount of work that the County can achieve. The volume of contracting we do has expanded dramatically over the years, including over just the past three years: and it is clear that our contracting infrastructure and practices have not kept up.
Many of our nonprofit partners are challenged with our procurement rules and regulations and often experience fiscal challenges due to our reimbursement and other contract management practices. Smaller organizations are unable to partner with us at all because they cannot carry the cost of the work until the County reimburses them. And on the other end of the process, once contracts are issued, our monitoring and compliance practices are inadequate to the task of ensuring that our partners are delivering what we have contracted for. These issues go hand-in-hand. If contracts aren’t appropriately structured, with realistic cost structures, expectations, and outcomes, it is also not realistic to expect those outcomes to be delivered.
These contracting issues have existed for a long time, but they have become even more challenging over the course of the pandemic. And they have recently been spotlighted by the substantial levels of underspending of Supportive Housing Services Measure funds in the Joint Office. Contracted service providers have pointed to the County’s contracting practices as one of the impediments to service delivery and spend-down of allocated funds.
In FY 2023, the County worked with a consultant, Civic Initiatives, to review existing procurement and contracting structures. The report received from Civic Initiatives includes a Transformation Roadmap with recommendations for the County on procurement and contracting. In addition, the Chair has advised that she will be meeting with houselessness service providers to hear directly from them about the issues they have faced.
These are important steps. It is incumbent upon us as a board to move Civic Initiatives' recommendations forward in an expedient way so that we can better meet the needs of our partners and constituents.
This budget note requests a briefing from the Department of County Management on our County contracting practices, what we've learned and how we are going to address the recommendations from the reports. This briefing is requested to take place by January 31, 2024.
SUN Program
This budget note requests a briefing from the Department of County Human Services (DCHS) on the Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN) Request for Proposal (RFP) and how program evaluation and redesign were incorporated into the process, by August 31, 2023.
The briefing is to include:
- A description of the current program design;
- Community engagement conducted and incorporated into the program redesign, including specific issues raised by community members (including school districts and community based organizations) and how those were addressed;
- Results of the Nonprofit Wage Study recently conducted, policy considerations raised by the study, and how the findings of the study have been incorporated into the proposed program design;
- Results from work to assess true cost of programming, and implications;
- Significant program design changes proposed;
- Potential impacts or incorporation of related programs, such as Family Resource Navigators and Successful Families 2020.
This briefing is requested before the procurement process begins.
The Department of County Human Services (DCHS) is delaying the briefing requested through this budget note as a result of the one year delay in the SUN Service System procurement process. The decision was made to delay the SUN Service System procurement process by one year so that DCHS can further explore possibilities for additional funding to meet the needs of families and providers, and to allow space for collaborative long-term planning with our SUN Service System funding partners and the SUN Coordinating Council. The responsible action was to take this time to do an intentional and thorough process before releasing a new procurement process. DCHS will work with the Chair's office to schedule a briefing for the Board of County Commissioners in early summer 2024 before the procurement is released.
Frequent User Systems Engagement (FUSE) Pilot
FUSE (Frequent User Systems Engagement) is a proven model developed by the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) that helps communities identify the people who often cycle in and out of healthcare, criminal justice, and shelters and provide them with long-term solutions, namely supporting housing. Connecting frequent systems users with supportive housing has been shown to significantly drop their emergency room visits, jail bookings, and hospitalizations.
Multnomah County commissioned a FUSE analysis in 2018. That was the catalyst for a County-led FUSE pilot project that launched in FY 2023 and will continue in FY 2024. There is a need to ensure the County's pilot project maintains the fidelity of the FUSE model and is adequately resourced to meet the intensive needs of the FUSE population.
Because the success of FUSE can have such important ramifications to multiple systems, including homelessness, criminal justice and healthcare it should be closely monitored by the Board. The Board of County Commissioners requests an initial briefing on FUSE, including the plan for the program, how it differs from current supportive housing approaches, how individuals will be selected for the program, where they will be placed, and what are the goals and desired outcomes within three months of adoption of the FY 2024 budget. Updates should be provided to the Board at six and nine months.
Link to November 7, 2023 Board Briefing
Agenda Placement Request - Informational briefing on Frequent User System Engagement (87.21 KB)
Frequent User System Engagement Board Briefing Presentation (1.92 MB)
Frequent User System Engagement Final Report (788.39 KB)
Mental Health System of Care Strategic Plan
The mental health care system is complex and it functions across many systems. As a result, it is important that resources are aligned so that people who need to access services can navigate seamlessly through the system and get the help they need in an effective manner. As the Local Mental Health Authority and Community-based Mental Health Program, Multnomah County's Behavioral Health Division (BHD) is charged with delivering recovery-based mental health and addiction services to Multnomah County's adults, children and families.
Though the purview of BHD is large, the services offered by BHD are only one part of the larger network of mental health services available in Multnomah County. Mental health services are also provided by hospitals and health systems; nonprofit organizations; educational institutions; law enforcement and corrections systems; and others. BHD invests hundreds of millions of dollars, yet to date no comprehensive plan has been shared with the Board. Accordingly, please provide the following information in one or more briefings to the Board:
- A Comprehensive Behavioral Health Plan has been required to be submitted to the State by all counties in Oregon until recently. Please tell us the last time it was required, and what was submitted. What are we doing in lieu?
- Please provide the Board with a briefing on the current state of behavioral health care for Multnomah County,
including:
a. Statistics around those being currently served compared with estimated levels of need.
b. What the continuum of care looks like for Multnomah County, including for adults, youth, and elders.
c. What is the status of the County’s Behavioral Health crisis system?
d. What is the status of the County’s Community-based Mental Health Program? What are current utilization rates?
e. What is the County’s interface with Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) and what is the status of Multnomah County referrals to CCBHCs?
f. What is the status of Multnomah County’s Aid and Assist system, including impacts of the Mosman decision.
g. What specifically has BHD been doing to build relationships and coordinate with Behavioral Health Resource Networks (BHRNs)? - Identify the ways the County has been connecting with the State around major behavioral health priorities:
a. Adoption of 988 (including interface with Lines for Life)
b. Aid and Assist
c. Regularly scheduled meetings through the Oregon Health Authority