Portland’s voter-approved arts tax is quietly sitting on roughly $8.5 million in unused cash, even as local arts groups say their grant dollars are drying up. The flat $35 charge on eligible Portland adults brings in around $12 million a year, and with tax-filing season in full swing, how that money is managed is back under the microscope. Arts leaders and several city council members say the revelation has forced an urgent question: is the Arts Access Fund really doing what voters thought they were signing up for?
How the tax works and where the money goes
The Arts Access Fund was created in 2012 when voters approved a $35 annual income tax on eligible Portland adults. According to the Arts Access Fund Oversight Committee, recent annual collections have ranged from about $11.9 million to $13.1 million. The ballot language tells the city to prioritize funding arts teachers in schools before sending any remaining dollars out as grants to arts organizations.
The oversight committee’s latest report itemizes how much the city collects, what it spends on collections and administration, and what ultimately goes out the door. It also urges city leaders to finally spell out a clear policy for how large the fund’s balance should be and how that reserve can be used.
Reserve revealed after oversight review
The 2024-25 oversight review shows the arts tax has built up an unspent balance of about $8.5 million since collections began in 2013. Reporting this week found there is no specific city code language that authorizes a reserve of that size, and a draft proposal from the Revenue Division suggested capping the fund balance at $3 million, as reported by OPB.
For arts advocates watching organizations scrape to stay open, that unspent pile of cash is hard to ignore. “If these funds were earmarked for a rainy day, this is the rainy day,” Blake Shell, co-chair of Portland Arts & Culture for Equity, told OPB.
Administrative costs and shrinking buying power
While the balance has grown, the share of tax revenue eaten up by administration and collections has climbed as well. As detailed in the Arts Access Fund Oversight Committee report, collections and administrative costs started out at several hundred thousand dollars a year but have risen in recent fiscal reporting to nearly $2 million. That leaves less net revenue to actually fund arts education and grants.
The committee recommends tying the $35 tax to inflation so its real-world value does not erode over time, and also calls for firm, written rules that define how big any reserve should be and when the city must start spending it down.
Who’s feeling the squeeze
The people feeling the crunch most are the nonprofits that rely on arts tax grants. Distributions to nonprofit grantees dropped about 44 percent year over year, while the money going to schools rose by roughly 5 percent, creating clear winners and losers across Portland’s arts landscape, as reported by OPB.
Recent award cycles have tilted toward larger institutions. The Oregon Symphony, for example, was slated to receive about $391,648 in 2024-25, while Portland Taiko was listed at roughly $21,000. Smaller and mid-size organizations say shrinking grant rounds are forcing them to cut programs and staff and, in some cases, to question how long they can hang on.
Council President Jamie Dunphy did not mince words in an interview with OPB, saying, “It’s a perfect storm of failure. The entire tax needs to be rethought.”
City officials counter that maintaining a cushion helps keep teachers and programs funded when tax payments come in late. Arts advocates respond that if there was ever a moment to crack open the piggy bank, this is it. With the filing deadline and city budget talks on the horizon, Portland now faces a stark policy choice: start spending down the reserve to stabilize arts groups, or lock in stricter rules and potentially take a revamped tax plan back to voters before asking them to change it.
