Portlanders may soon get to call the shots on a slice of City Hall’s checkbook. A citizen-led charter amendment that would hand residents a direct vote over roughly 2% of the city’s discretionary budget just inched closer to the November 2026 ballot. If it makes the cut and passes, an estimated $15 to $16 million a year would be steered to projects picked by residents instead of decided entirely inside City Hall. Backers say the plan would invite young people and noncitizen residents into the process and shine more light on how Portland spends public dollars.
According to OPB, the petition cleared a key procedural hurdle on July 6 that moves it closer to qualification for the November 2026 ballot. That step followed months of revising the measure’s language and campaign paperwork.
What the measure would do
The proposed charter language filed with the City Elections Division would require the City Council to allocate "at least 2% of the city's adopted General Fund discretionary ongoing expenses" to a participatory budgeting program. City projections put that at about $15 to $16 million a year under current forecasts.
The ballot title outlines the basic playbook: a steering committee, a process to collect project ideas, a feasibility review, a binding resident vote on the qualifying proposals, and city implementation of the winning projects. It also calls for an independent performance audit every five years. The first participatory budgeting cycle would need to be up and running by July 2027, according to the City of Portland ballot title.
Who’s behind it and where it stands
The campaign is led by Participatory Budgeting Oregon, working with allied organizations. Organizers say they have been turning out volunteers and hiring paid circulators to gather signatures in hopes of reaching the ballot.
Participatory Budgeting Oregon says the Your 2 Cents PDX campaign is focused on qualifying the measure for the November election and centering historically underrepresented Portlanders in decisions about how that 2% slice is spent.
Signature drive and supporters
Willamette Week reported that by late 2025 the campaign had collected about 22,000 signatures, more than half of the roughly 40,437 needed to qualify for the ballot. The paper identified Jim Labbe and Elona Wilson as chief petitioners and noted that organizers have brought in professional signature gatherers. Several local progressive groups are backing the effort.
Why it matters now
The push comes in a year when Portland’s budget has been under serious strain. In mid June, city councilors adopted an operating budget that officials said closed a gap of more than $160 million while cutting in some areas to protect core services. KPTV detailed the moves used to close the shortfall and the service and staffing tradeoffs that came with it. Supporters of the measure point to that budget crunch as part of their case for letting residents directly direct at least a small share of city spending.
Next steps
If campaigners collect and turn in enough signatures, the City Elections Division will verify them and certify any measure that meets the threshold for the November ballot. The city keeps a public petition and measure log and posts ballot title documents that lay out the legal and procedural steps for initiatives and any challenges, as shown in the City of Portland petition log.
If the proposal qualifies and voters sign off in November, Portland would join other U.S. cities that give residents direct control over a portion of municipal spending. Organizers say that if it clears the ballot hurdle, the campaign will pivot to voter outreach and education to make their pitch that neighborhood voices should help decide how millions of city dollars are used.
