The City of Portland’s lobbyist the to Maine Legislature admitted during a Tuesday meeting with the city’s elected officials that the state revenue forecast — which projected a nearly $1 billion shortfall for fiscal years 2026 and 2027 — will mean less funding for new projects and broad cuts to state agencies.

Kate Knox, a longtime lobbyist with Bernstein Shur and Portland’s contracted lobbying counsel, made the remarks during a meeting of the city’s Legislative and Nominating Committee on Tuesday.

“I think, big picture, many of you have sort of seen the revenue forecast is better than they anticipated, but certainly not great,” Knox told Portland Mayor Mark Dion and several City Councilors at the start of the meeting. “So, we anticipate not a lot of new funding, not a lot of new programs.”

“I think I said prior to this that we expect agencies to propose some cuts,” she added, specifically mentioning concerns regarding funding for public schools, behavioral health and housing.

Despite her comments about the revenue forecast, Knox painted an optimistic picture of the City of Portland’s influence in the Legislature for the upcoming session.

“I will say that we have great representation by the delegation on all committees, including appropriations,” Knox said. “So that was really exciting to see, and I think will be really helpful to the city that we have that voice sprinkled in a lot of different places this year.”

According to a recent four-year budget forecast report released by the Department of Administrative and Financial Services (DAFS), the State of Maine is projected to face a $949.2 million shortfall for the 2026-2027 biennium, split between a $636.7 million projected deficit in the General Fund and a Highway Fund gap of $312.5 million.

Later in the meeting, Portland City Manager Danielle West outlined the city’s top legislative priorities for the coming session.

The city’s number one priority, according to West, is for the state to increase its reimbursement for municipal welfare spending through General Assistance to 90 percent.

Currently, the state reimburses 70 percent of municipal General Assistance spending.

Records from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services reviewed by the Maine Wire show that Portland accounted for 72.8 percent ($79.6 million) of all General Assistance spending in the state, a total of $109.3 million.

City officials in Portland have previously acknowledged the perception from other parts of the state that the city is taking a disproportionate amount of state resources with their municipal welfare spending, and services to the homeless and migrant populations.

At a meeting of the city’s Legislative and Nominating Committee from February of this year, City Councilor Kate Sykes — former co-chair of the Maine Democratic Socialists of America — bemoaned the rest of Maine’s reluctance to support Portland in their outsized spending.

“I feel like there’s a lot of opposition outside of Portland to Portland getting assistance for doing the work of all the people that are opposing us,” Sykes said at the meeting.

The city’s lobbyist Kate Knox responded to Sykes by saying “It is just a narrative that we have fought for 25 years about Portland’s role in Maine’s economy, and Portland’s role in the state.”

“People see us as different, and as taking an undue amount of resources away from other people,” Knox said.

City Manager West estimated that the change from 70 to 90 percent state reimbursement for General Assistance would be a difference of several million dollars for the city.