Finance
Portland weighs tweaking public campaign finance program to allow larger donations
Less than five months from a historic election, Portland may tweak campaign finance rules to stretch the city’s cash-strapped public financing program.
On Friday, city candidates were emailed a survey asking whether the city’s Small Donor Elections program should loosen its rules around the amount and type of in-kind donations nonprofits and other political organizations can give candidates.
The proposal, first reported by Willamette Week, has drawn both praise and alarm from those involved in city campaigns.
“We don’t need more money in politics,” said Marie Glickman, a candidate running to represent Portland’s new District 2, which spans North and Northeast Portland. “The ideas being discussed are anti-democratic.”
The small donor program rewards candidates who don’t accept individual donations over $350 by matching those contributions with public funds 9-to-1. The program was created to level the playing field for candidates who may have fewer deep-pocketed supporters than others — potentially hampering their ability to fund a competitive campaign.
This year’s general election has attracted a uniquely large pool of candidates, due to voter-approved changes that scrapped primary elections and set the stage for 14 city elected offices to be open all at once. Nearly 80 candidates have applied to participate in the program so far.
Due to the large number of participants and limited amount of available funding, the Portland Elections Commission in January chose to lower the amount of total funds council candidates can receive from the city through the program to $120,000 from the previous $300,000 cap.
Through the program, candidates are limited to receiving no more than $10,000 worth of in-kind donations from political committees and non-profits. Those organizations must receive at least 90% of their annual funds from contributions of $250 or less per donor, a rule meant to exclude committees fueled by wealthy donors. Those donations are limited to paying staff to canvas or run a phone bank, sharing donor lists, and assisting with general campaign planning.
The Friday survey asked candidates if contributing organizations should be able to spend more than $10,000 on in-kind donations and to broaden the donations included — like allowing organizations to donate space to host campaign events, fundraisers, and print and distribute for campaigns. It also asked whether organizations can still participate in the small donor program if they receive 90% of their funding from contributions of $350 or less — instead of $250.
Jake Weigler, a political consultant with Praxis Political, said this would allow political committees with wealthier donors to contribute.
“If your goal was to reduce the influence of large organizations in the campaign process, this undercuts that by giving them a larger role,” said Weigler, who is working on several City Council campaigns.
Susan Mottet oversees the Small Donor Election program and distributed the survey on behalf of the Portland Elections Commission, which makes recommendations on city election rules. She said these proposed changes could help campaigns stretch limited funds a bit further.
“With no ability to increase campaign matching caps, we have to look at options,” she said. “The Portland Elections Commission is trying to figure out if there is anything they have power to do to get candidates more support without making changes that undercut the intent of the program.”
She knows the spotlight is on her office this election.
“Obviously, the program succeeds or fails based on if a campaign is viable,” Mottet said.
Weigler said the proposed changes to the program reflect this pressure.
“I get the urgency that they don’t don’t want to fumble this, during such a critical election,” he said. “But it creates inherent tension. It makes it much easier for organizations to put their thumb on the scale and elevate a class of candidates they prefer.”
Some political insiders say these changes are vital for upholding the program’s intent.
“The theory of the original program is to limit the amount of money that organizations can give, and to mitigate that shortfall with city funding,” said Laurie Wimmer, the head of NW Oregon Labor Council, who has convened a group of labor leaders to endorse council candidates this year. “But if that money wanes, like it has this year, it’s only fair that something has to give on the other side of the equation to run a credible campaign.”
Wimmer, who led an unsuccessful campaign for state representative in 2020, said that the cost of sending out one piece of campaign mail could cost over $10,000, the current in-kind limit.
Doug Moore, the former head of the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, now leads United for Portland, a political action committee that represents business and industry groups. He called the current small donor program “disingenuous” because it potentially limits candidates from running what he considers successful campaigns.
“Not being able to fully match funds — that’s bad for democracy in general,” Moore said. “I appreciate the effort to try and help candidates be a little more flexible and able to run campaigns.”
He does worry that the more complex the election’s rules are, the more at-risk candidates are for breaking them, especially if the rules change in the middle of campaign season.
“It’s like they’re trying to build the plane as they’re flying it,” Moore said.
Council candidate Glickman said her campaign hasn’t been hampered by the limited public matching caps. She agrees that the timing of the proposed change is a problem.
“We shouldn’t change rules mid-game,” said Glickman, who is one of more than 20 candidates for District 2 who are participating in the small donor program thus far.
She said that allowing wealthier organizations to support low-cost campaigns is an even bigger concern. The fact that these possible tweaks may be needed, she said, is entirely the city’s fault.
“The city of Portland needs to be more consistent in its planning its programs, funding its programs, and implementing its programs in a responsible and transparent way,” Glickman said.
Not all candidates agree. Steph Routh, a candidate in East Portland’s District 1, was one of the first candidates to qualify for the small donor program. She said she’s been impressed with the level of transparency from the city’s elections program. However, she is cautious to fully endorse the proposed funding changes to the small donor program.
“We created a budget early on assuming we would have limited resources, and we’ve made it work,” Routh said. “I think the fundamental question before us is, ‘How do we create pathways to support a grassroots-based campaign to ensure no single actor or donor creates an advantage after election?’”
The Portland Elections Commission will discuss the survey responses at its Wednesday meeting and potentially propose a policy change. Any new administration policy requires four weeks of public feedback before going into effect, but they don’t require a sign-off from the City Council.
That means the earliest any changes could come to the small donor program could be late July, less than four months from election day.
Within the global manufacturing industry, maintaining a competitive edge requires a delicate balance between driving internal efficiency and fostering strong external relationships. For Applied Materials, a leader in materials engineering solutions for the semiconductor industry, this challenge became the foundation for a strategic finance transformation program, with an SAP Taulia solution emerging as a key enabler.
The journey began in early 2019 with the launch of Agile Finance, an end-to-end transformation initiative designed to support the company’s aggressive growth trajectory, which included a goal to double in size. The initiative was built around three strategic pillars: enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the finance organization, promoting career fulfillment, and establishing a robust digital operating model. The impact was significant, with the finance function achieving approximately 35% productivity gains in its labor force.
The third pillar—the move to a digital operating model—is where the partnership with SAP Taulia began.
“The SAP Taulia Dynamic Discounting solution was introduced not merely as a cost-cutting measure, but as a strategic tool to transform and digitize the interaction with Applied’s extensive, global supplier base,” Junaid Ahmed, corporate VP, Finance at Applied Materials, says. “We understood that to reap the benefits of digitization, we had to ensure the suppliers were on board. It needed to be a win-win outcome.”
Unprecedented flexibility for suppliers
The program empowers suppliers—thousands of them worldwide—to self-select which approved invoices they wish to discount for early payment. This is not a continuous, all-or-nothing commitment but rather a decision made on an invoice-by-invoice basis. This flexibility allows suppliers to manage their working capital needs with greater precision, taking advantage of early payment during their own critical periods, such as quarter-end or year-end, to help meet their own financial targets.
The system also drastically improves transactional efficiency. Suppliers no longer have to call Applied to track invoice status, approval, or payment date. All this information is available 24/7 in the SAP Taulia solution, reducing resource allocation on both sides and ensuring both reap the benefits of moving to an integrated, digital system.
Strategic benefits for Applied Materials
For Applied, the program is a testament to its focus on balancing efficiency with strong supplier relationships. The philosophy is a “win-win” built on a crucial spread: Applied Materials, as a Fortune 500 company with strong cash flow, has a significantly lower cost of capital than many of its suppliers. By funding the discounts, Applied captures a return—the discount income—while offering its suppliers funding at a rate close to their cost of capital, but with greater convenience.
This relationship-focused approach is critical. Applied’s supplier account managers actively support the program because they recognize its mutual benefit, not viewing it as a finance mandate to push costs onto the supply base.
Furthermore, the “dynamic” nature of the discount rates is a powerful risk mitigation tool. Unlike fixed contractual discounts, the rates can be adjusted in response to global economic changes, such as shifts in interest rates. When interest rates rose after the pandemic, Applied was able to adjust the discount rates accordingly with minimal pushback, as the core proposition remains the valuable spread between the parties’ cost of capital.
The SAP Taulia Dynamic Discounting solution has been rolled out globally, giving all suppliers the opportunity to use it. This has been critical over the last 12 months as many businesses around the globe have been subject to new and often unexpected tariff costs impacting their margin and their liquidity.
“The flexibility of the solution means suppliers can access funds when they need them, which helps them navigate some of the economic uncertainty that many businesses are facing,” Dirk Holoubek, managing director, Finance Shared Services, explains. “2025 saw a 23% increase in usage of the discounts, reflecting the pressures that suppliers are feeling right now on their cash flow.”
The solution’s capability to drive sophisticated analytics is also a major strategic asset. It helps provide insights into the different costs of capital between Applied and its supplier base. This data allows for targeted outreach and communication, ensuring that the offer of capital support is proactively extended to the suppliers that need it most.
The strategic value of the solution is further cemented by its ownership. The acquisition of Taulia by SAP brings several advantages.
“Trust is really important to both us and our suppliers,” Ahmed says. “For our suppliers to adopt a new solution, they need to know its technology they can rely on in the long term. Being part of SAP creates that assurance in the long-term future of the program.”
Looking forward, Applied Materials is already focused on the next stage of the transformation project: Agile Finance 3.0, which is focused on enabling the organization to become AI-first. The company is deploying a global, organization-wide AI assistant to drive personal productivity, but the strategic application of AI in the supplier management space is even more profound.
AI is expected to transform decision-making enablement by analyzing critical information and communicating effective options. In the future, AI will be able to proactively assess the specific needs and attributes of the supplier base, enabling Applied to address issues more quickly and resolve them earlier. The benefits are already tangible in e-invoicing: AI has made the solution more flexible and “human-like,” capable of reading minor changes in invoice format that would have previously caused electronic errors. This reduced rigidity and increased flexibility are directly contributing to the overall efficiency of the digital operating model.
By leveraging the SAP Taulia Dynamic Discounting solution, Applied Materials has not only digitized a process but also strategically transformed its financial operations, creating a system that is agile, resilient, and focused on maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with its global supplier ecosystem.
Cedric Bru is CEO of SAP Taulia.
Finance
Houston budget amendment would give financial assistance to help those impacted by a trash fee
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Houston City Council could soon consider whether to offer financial assistance to help those who may struggle to afford a proposed trash fee.
This month, council will approve a budget. In it, Mayor John Whitmire doesn’t increase taxes.
However, he does want to charge a $5 monthly fee to cover trash services. A plan to help close the city’s nearly $200 million deficit that doesn’t add up to some.
Speaking in front of council on Wednesday, Super Neighborhood 64 president Lindsay Williams brought more than concerns, she had numbers surrounding the mayor’s proposed $5 monthly trash fee.
A plan his team says could climb to $25 a month by 2032. If it does, Williams told council that $300 annual cost would be just .15% of a $200,000 income.
For someone making $15,000, it’s two percent. “More than 13 times the burden for the same trash, same truck and same fee, but not the same pay,” Williams explained.
However, Controller Chris Hollins said the mayor’s not being truthful about the real cost.
“Houstonians are not stupid,” Hollins said. “We should not treat Houstonians like they’re stupid.”
Hollins said the cost may need to be $40 a month. Whitmire didn’t respond to Hollins during the meeting when he asked if he plans to increase the fee.
No matter the cost, some council members want to offer financial relief. Right now, there are no exceptions.
However, an amendment council will consider from Council Member Alejandra Salinas next week would change that.
“If they for whatever reason met the threshold and need an additional need because of the administrative fee, our amendment would allow them to apply for funds through the water fund,” Salinas said.
The trash fee wasn’t the only item from the mayor’s seven and a half billion dollar budget proposal that sparked debate. Hollins said a plan to divert money away from water utilities could drain a billion over the next five years from infrastructure money.
Whitmire disagrees saying there’s more than enough funds to handle the change, and continue with projects.
“We’ve all admitted the budget’s not perfect, but certainly it’s a first start that Houstonians understand and it’s a shame it’s being so politicized because it’s literally people’s lives and death,” Whitmire said.
Council will vote on amendments next week. It has to have a new budget in place by the end of the month.
Copyright © 2026 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.
Reader question: My spouse has little interest in our financial position. As we age, this concerns me. I try to share some basic information (income, spending, account balances, debt, and so on) each month but rarely get a response. I think graphs or charts might be of more interest to her than a bunch of numbers. What recommendations would you have for illustrating our financial position so that I am not the only person aware of how we are situated? Thanks!
Answer: Your situation is pretty common. Most couples I know develop a division of labor over time, where one person is in charge of financial matters and the other person is less involved. That’s definitely the case for my husband and me. He’s in charge of paying all the monthly bills and preparing our tax returns, but the financial planning and investment decisions are up to me. This type of arrangement might work well for a long time, but can become less sustainable with age, particularly if the “finance person” in the relationship dies or develops a major health issue.
Online tools and mind maps
Illustrating your financial situation with charts and graphs is a great idea that might help your spouse become a little more involved. Morningstar’s Portfolio X-Ray tool includes a variety of images that help illustrate your financial situation. Websites for most major brokerage firms also include some visual tools. Schwab, for example, offers a Portfolio Checkup and a bar graph illustrating your account’s monthly income from dividends and interest income. Vanguard has a Portfolio Watch tool and a variety of performance illustrations, tools, and calculators.
A mind map, which we used with clients when I worked for a financial advisory firm, can be another way to picture your entire financial situation on one page. There are various softwaretemplates for drawing a mind map, or you can simply sketch it out with a large sheet of paper and a pencil. Start with your names at the center of the page. Then draw spokes connecting to various categories, such as names of other family members; investment accounts; real estate and other assets, insurance policies, estate plans, key goals and values, and contact information for accountants, estate planners, and other professionals. It can be helpful to go through the mind map together and make any updates needed at least once a year.
Other ways to communicate about money
A few other ideas—though not related to charts and graphs—might also be useful.
I like the idea of putting together a net worth statement that itemizes cash, taxable accounts, real estate, retirement accounts, and debt for each member of the couple as well as items owned jointly. It’s a good idea to update this document at least once a year and discuss it as a couple. If you set up the document as a spreadsheet, you can include columns with additional information such as account numbers, what each account is used for, which accounts are subject to required minimum distributions, or tax issues like potential capital gains.
Many couples also put together a binder (sometimes humorously called a “Doomsday Book”) that contains information about where to find important paperwork, insurance policies, how bills are paid, what each account is for, steps the surviving spouse will need to take, final wishes, and any other critical information.
A well-qualified financial adviser can bridge the information gap
Finally, you could consider working with a good financial adviser, who can help involve your spouse in financial matters while you’re still living and step in to fully manage investments and personal finance decisions if you pass away before your spouse. Make sure the adviser holds the Certified Financial Planner designation and charges fees that are reasonable. Although a 1% fee is still the industry standard for accounts of $1 million or less, it’s possible to find advisers who charge significantly less, including a few who price their services based on hours worked instead of a percentage of assets under management.
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This article was provided to The Associated Press by Morningstar. For more personal finance content, go to https://www.morningstar.com/personal-finance.
Amy C. Arnott, CFA, is a portfolio strategist for Morningstar and co-host of The Long View podcast.
Related links:
What If This Turns Out to Be a Terrible Time to Retire?
https://www.morningstar.com/personal-finance/what-if-this-turns-out-be-terrible-time-retire
Bill Bengen: ‘Inflation Is the Greatest Enemy of Retirees’
https://www.morningstar.com/retirement/bill-bengen-inflation-is-greatest-enemy-retirees
3 Big Questions to Ask Your Aging Parents
https://www.morningstar.com/personal-finance/3-big-questions-ask-your-aging-parents
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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