Metro Refers Parks Levy to November Ballot

Capital bonds can only be used to purchase property, not pay for operations and maintenance. That’s where the operating levy comes in.

IN BLOOM: Grand opening of Chehalem Ridge Nature Park. (Metro)
By Nigel Jaquiss

While you were out camping, your ballot got a little longer (and now includes a vote on campgrounds).

The Metro Council voted last week to refer a five-year, local option parks levy to the November ballot. The levy would replace an existing one that expires in June 2023. It would charge property taxpayers the same amount as the existing levy—9.6 cents per $1,000 of assessed value—and raise an estimated total of $98.3 million over five years.

Metro has previously used large capital bonds, most recently $475 million in 2019, to buy greenspaces and now controls more than 18,000 acres. But those capital bonds can only be used to purchase property, not pay for operations and maintenance. That’s where the operating levy comes in.

“Portland Audubon strongly supports the Metro natural areas levy renewal,” says Audubon conservation director Bob Sallinger. “It is a crucial funding mechanism to protect and restore our amazing system of regional natural areas and to connect the community to nature.”

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