The proposed Portland city budget was released on May 3, 2024. FPN took a look at the budget for the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management (PBEM) and found that while the overall bureau budget stayed relatively steady compared to last year’s budget, the Community Programs portion of the bureau budget took a massive hit, suffering a whopping 74% reduction. That means much less money for supporting NETs, the BEECN program and many other direct community preparedness investments.

NET, BEECN and other emergency response volunteers have been contacting Mayor Wheeler, urging him to fund PBEM’s Community Programs at last year’s level. You can join them by contacting Mayor Wheeler by email at [email protected] or by phone at 503-823-4120.

FPN submitted written comments to a special budget hearing on May 9. These comments can be found here. Use any part of those comments to write a message to the Mayor. You can also talk about your experiences as a NET or BEECN volunteer.

We understand that decisions may be made as early as late this week, so let’s work quickly! Make your call or send your email today.