Portland officials say they received $114 million in federal coronavirus aid Monday but can’t spend it yet because they haven’t been told all the rules on how the money can be used.

It’s unclear when the U.S. Treasury Department will provide more information about money provided through the CARES Act’s Coronavirus Relief Fund other than it can’t be used to cover lost revenue or unbudgeted expenses due to COVID-19 that occur between March 1 and Dec. 30, Portland Government Relations Director Elizabeth Edwards said during a city council meeting Tuesday.

Oregon received $1.6 billion in local government relief. In addition to the $114 million going to Portland, $105 million will go to Washington County and $28 million to Multnomah County. The state will allocate the remaining $1.39 billion to other jurisdictions, Edwards said.

Future stimulus packages are in the works and federal rules could be modified to allow using relief funds for revenue shortfalls, Edwards said.

Mayor Ted Wheeler said Tuesday’s meeting was initially called to lay out priorities for how to deploy the $114 million. He said he would like to see the money used to help households with rent and other essential expenses as well aid small businesses.

He said city officials will discuss priorities with city bureau directors and Multnomah County authorities.

“The bottom line is until we get the framework from the federal government, it’s really hard for us to define how we would spend those dollars,” Wheeler said.

Commissioner Chloe Eudaly said she was hoping the money could be used to help the city’s homeless population and that one of her priorities is to “get everyone safely sheltered who is currently living on the streets.” She and Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty expressed interest in doing more to help businesses that weren’t able to receive loans from the federal $377 billion paycheck protection program, which ran out of money last week.

“I am gravely concerned for our restaurant and retail businesses as well as our music venues,” Eudaly said. “We could lose virtually every locally owned music venue in the city if we don’t help these businesses access some meaningful relief.”

Portland estimates as of Tuesday it will see a $75 million decrease in general fund revenue for the next fiscal year, said city economist Josh Harwood.

Harwood said according to his forecast for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1, the city will see a $20 million decrease in transient lodging taxes and a $45 million decrease in business license taxes.

He said the city’s general fund revenues for this fiscal year should mostly meet projections because the majority of the taxes collected are based on 2019 activity. Which businesses pay taxes next year will look different than those who pay this year, he said.

“There are companies that are, frankly, doing well right now and we’ve gotten huge payments for the clean energy surcharge payments, for instance, based on those large companies,” Harwood said. “Small businesses are going to really struggle and a lot of them will not pay.”

He also said the city will likely see more nonpayments in future property and utility license taxes , as well as franchise fees.

“Generally, the city’s revenue streams are way more resilient than most other local governments’ and certainly the state,” Harwood said. “We’re not going to be great, but we’re going to be better off than most.”

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the city has thus far allowed city-owned property tenants to defer rent for three months, temporarily stopped collections of past due taxes and reallocated at least $4 million in reserves to aid small business owners and low-income families and fund the city’s COVID-19 response.

The city has also cut 950 jobs, most of them seasonal parks positions, ordered all non-union city employees to take 10 days of unpaid leave by October and halted raises.

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-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 |@EvertonBailey

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