Voter-approved programs · City of Portland (Portland Parks & Recreation)
Parks Levy
Everything the Record publishes about this program, in one place: the tax, the ballot measure, the money by fiscal year, council votes, what was promised next to what was reported, the auditors' findings, and outcome measures. Each figure carries its source and date. Sections with nothing verified yet say so.
1 · What it is
The Parks Levy is a voter-approved City of Portland property-tax levy that funds Portland Parks & Recreation.
- Who pays
- Property owners, per $1,000 of assessed value. Its rate depends on which levy is in effect; both are listed below by levy period.
- Who runs it
- The City of Portland (Portland Parks & Recreation).
as of 2026-10-15 · source 1 · source 2
Rates, as published
In plain terms
The Parks Levy is a voter-approved property tax that funds Portland Parks and Recreation. A levy is a tax charged on property based on its assessed value, which is the county's taxable value of a home or building. The rate is $0.80 per $1,000 of assessed value, which works out to about $240 a year on a property assessed at $300,000. It is projected to raise about $47 million per year, and the auditor's crosscheck puts five-year revenue at roughly $239 million. In FY2024-25 the levy collected $51.18 million and spent $63.77 million, and its Access Discount program provided $4,699,217 in financial assistance to 18,844 users.
AI-drafted plain-language summary, reviewed by an editor — not the verbatim official record. See the sources for the exact wording.
Summary as of 2026-06-24 . This summary describes the 2020 levy's rate. The renewed levy's rate, which commences with fiscal year 2026-27, is listed below by levy period.
2 · What voters approved
The ballot measure
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Measure 26-260
November 4, 2025Ballot title: “Maintain safe parks, nature, affordable recreation through 5-year levy”
Voters approved Measure 26-260, 56–44 (Nov 2025).
as of 2026-09-25 · source 1 · source 2 · source 3 · source 4 · source 5 · full result on Voters and the Council →
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Measure 26-213
November 3, 2020Ballot title: “Restore recreation programs, parks, nature, water through five-year levy.”
Voters approved Measure 26-213, 64–36 (Nov 2020).
as of 2026-09-25 · source 1 · source 2 · full result on Voters and the Council →
3 · Money over time
Revenue, spending and fund balance by fiscal year
- Levy revenue collected
- Levy funds spent
FY2024-25
| Fiscal year | Measure | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024-25 | Levy revenue collected | $51,180,000 | sourceas of 2026-10-15 |
| FY2024-25 | Levy funds spent | $63,770,000 | sourceas of 2026-10-15 |
From the City's Parks Levy annual report. Only one fiscal year of collected and spent figures is in the Record's data so far; the auditor's multi-year figures are in the audit section below.
Other published money figures
Figures that are not part of a year-by-year series — multi-year totals, plan commitments, and one-off amounts — each with its own period and source.
4 · Council decisions acting on it
Council votes linked to this program
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*Approve levying taxes for the City for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026 and ending June 30, 2027
On Jun 17, 2026 the council voted 11–0 on ordinance 2026-197; recorded outcome: passed.
Why it is listed here: The ordinance or resolution cites Measure 26-260. The document: “For General Government, a voter-approved local option Parks levy taxing a rate of $1.4000 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.”
11–0 11 Yea · 1 Absent- Angelita Morillo voted Yea
- Candace Avalos voted Yea
- Dan Ryan voted Yea
- Elana Pirtle-Guiney voted Yea
- Eric Zimmerman voted Yea
- Jamie Dunphy voted Yea
- Loretta Smith voted Absent
- Mitch Green voted Yea
- Olivia Clark voted Yea
- Sameer Kanal voted Yea
- Steve Novick voted Yea
- Tiffany Koyama Lane voted Yea
linking document · vote record · vote record · in the vote ledger →
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Accept the 2024-2025 Parks Levy and Parks Levy Oversight Committee Annual Report
On Feb 25, 2026 the council voted 10–0 on report 2026-040; recorded outcome: accepted.
Why it is listed here: Paired with Measure 26-260 through the program it created.
10–0 10 Yea · 2 Absent- Angelita Morillo voted Yea
- Candace Avalos voted Yea
- Dan Ryan voted Absent
- Elana Pirtle-Guiney voted Yea
- Eric Zimmerman voted Absent
- Jamie Dunphy voted Yea
- Loretta Smith voted Yea
- Mitch Green voted Yea
- Olivia Clark voted Yea
- Sameer Kanal voted Yea
- Steve Novick voted Yea
- Tiffany Koyama Lane voted Yea
5 · What was promised, and what was reported
Promised vs. delivered
Promise records quote the promising document and render only after the editor verifies them. Delivered figures are the program's own reports and audited statements. Each is shown as recorded; the Record computes no percent-of-goal and draws no conclusion.
No verified promise records for this program yet.
On the accountability ledger
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Renewed Parks Levy: $1.40/$1,000 AV for parks operations, commencing FY2026-27
Not yet due“A five-year local option ad valorem property tax levy at a rate of $1.40 per $1,000 of assessed value, commencing in fiscal year 2026-27, for parks and recreation purposes”
The record:The renewed levy commences with fiscal year 2026-27, which began 2026-07-01; the first annual report on the renewed levy has not yet been published. The prior levy's spending is on this dashboard (FY2024-25: $63.8M spent vs $51.2M collected) with an independent auditor finding.
as of 2026-07-22 · source 1 · on the ledger →
6 · Audits and recommendations
What the auditors found
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Performance Audit of the 2020 Parks Local Option Levy
December 2024
The finding, as recorded from the report
"The audit found that Levy funds were used in compliance with voter-approved commitments, and that Levy dollars were clearly tracked using strong financial systems and tracking mechanisms to ensure transparent management of funds." There were no recommendations.
Figures the report states
- $145,100,000 — Levy funds received by the City in the first three years (over $6.4M more than the estimated $138.7M)
- $239,000,000 — Estimated total Levy funds to be collected over the five-year period (avg ~$47M/yr)
as of 2026-06-24 · audit report
The Record carries each audit's headline finding and the figures it states. Recommendation-by-recommendation status is not in the Record's data yet; where an auditor reported a count of recommendations by status, it appears above in the auditor's own words.
7 · Outcomes context
What the program and others report
Reported counts sit here beside the money, not as its result: the Record draws no causal line between a program's spending and any outcome.
| Reported figure | Period | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parks Levy Access Discount users served | FY2024-25 | 18,844 | source as of 2026-10-15 |
Other programs: Supportive Housing Services · Preschool for All · Portland Clean Energy Fund · Arts Tax · Voter-Approved Taxes