Metro, the Portland area’s elected regional government, announced Thursday that it's laying off approximately 40% of its staff — about 700 people — because of declining revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Metro oversees land use, trash collection and recycling across Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties. It also runs the Oregon Convention Center, many of the region’s large public performance spaces and a network of parks and nature preserves.
Despite the layoffs, Metro is moving forward with a $250 million homeless services measure on the May primary ballot.
Related: Metro Announces Layoffs Affecting 40% Of Staff
Most of the layoffs will be felt at the Oregon Convention Center, the Oregon Expo Center, the Portland’5 Centers for the Performing Arts and the Oregon Zoo, Metro’s chief operating officer Marissa Madrigal said in a letter to staff Thursday.
As for which specific positions will be laid off, Madrigal said most people in those venues will be affected.
“For our venues, where the bulk of the staff is putting on events — stagehands, people who do AV, admissions and then all of the administrative stuff behind the scenes — unfortunately, most people will be affected," Madrigal told OPB.
The agency’s services like trash collection will continue even with those reductions.
“Metro provides critical services like waste management and recycling, so there are areas of Metro where even though we know we’re going to see revenue reductions, we’re going to have to restrict but keep going,” Madrigal said.
She said the agency also has some bonds for projects in parks and natural spaces that will continue as scheduled.
“For the most part, Metro’s puzzle pieces of funding are all fairly restricted and there isn’t a lot of discretionary funding that can be moved from one place to the other to save one part or another,” Madrigal said. “That’s the challenge that we had with the venues. When the events shut down, the money stopped coming in. That does trickle through the rest of Metro.”
Based on Metro’s current revenue projections, the agency said it is facing about $11 million in monthly losses. That includes a projected $2 million from the Oregon Zoo and $2.9 million at the Oregon Convention Center.
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“In order to weather this period of complete closure and at the end of the event ban and, hopefully, at the end of this pandemic in our community, we need to close down in a way that allows us to open back up again,” Madrigal said.
Considering Metro's layoffs, a local business coalition is urging the agency to disavow an upcoming ballot measure that, if passed, would raise $250 million for homeless services through business and personal income taxes.
Shaun Jillions, a business lobbyist and a member of the Alliance for An Affordable Metro, called Metro’s move forward with the ballot measure “wildly hypocritical” in a statement Thursday.
“Hundreds of local businesses have already had to cut hours or lay off workers altogether,” Jillions said. “Yet, despite this crisis and despite acknowledging the coronavirus’ impact on their own bottom line, Metro is still pushing for local businesses to pay more.”
Madrigal said the measure will be on the May 19 ballot.
“It’s a measure for the voters to decide,” she said.
If passed, the measure would specifically add a 1% tax on the profits of businesses with gross receipts of more than $5 million. The region’s wealthiest residents — individuals earning more than $125,000 annually or couples earning more than $200,000 — would have a 1% marginal income tax.