Multnomah County poised to pay marketing firm $238K to collect feedback on Preschool for All, its tax on high earners

Multnomah County will pay an estimated $238,500 to a marketing and outreach agency to gauge opinions on the

county’s effort

to offer

tuition-free preschool

, with a focus on its finances.

A draft contract with Portland-based Lara Media Services provided to The Oregonian/OregonLive shows the firm is tasked with conducting “outreach to diverse community members in order to gather their input.” That work kicked off last month, after the firm first met with county officials in April.

County spokesperson Ryan Yambra said the final details of the contract are still being hashed out. The county hired the marketing firm to assist with a formal review of the program and the tax that funds it.

“We are grateful to those who have participated in our community engagement process so far, and we look forward to sharing the findings with the technical committee and the broader community,” Yambra said in a statement.

Lara Media is launching interviews and focus groups as the dust settles from a public clash over the program, which aims to offer tuition-free preschool seats to 11,000 3- and 4-year-olds from families of all income levels by 2030. Gov. Tina Kotek and some state lawmakers raked the program over the coals last month, concerned that the tax on wealthy county residents to fund it was driving high earners out of Portland and that the effort was duplicating what the state is already endeavoring to offer.

Lawmakers’ and Kotek’s attack on the preschool program met fierce pushback from advocates and commissioners.

To fund the unique-in-Oregon universal preschool program, the county collects 1.5% on any income a single household county resident makes over $125,000. That same rate applies to any income couples make over $200,000. That tax rate jumps to 3% on income over $250,000 for individuals and over $400,000 for joint filers.

In her

first jab

, Kotek decried the decision to delay a report on whether the preschool program needs a tax modification or other changes to make it more sustainable. The original deadline was 2026, but commissioners voted in September to push it to 2027 — a move Kotek said failed to “meet the urgency of the moment.”

The contract with Lara Media is meant to assist the advisory group reviewing the Preschool for All tax, according to the document. The firm plans to conduct interviews with families, preschool providers and educators, school districts, people who pay the tax and businesses, among others, the contract shows. The marketing group will also send out surveys.

The county authorized Lara Media to compensate some focus group participants, including families, Preschool for All providers, community organizations and business owners, $100 per person, according to the document.

Multnomah County voters in 2020 overwhelmingly approved creating the universal preschool program and imposing taxes on high-income earners to pay for it. But the program has come under serious criticism since then, largely because it has raised far more money than it has spent and because it has been slow to serve as many preschoolers as originally promised.

The county commission has contemplated changes to the tax that funds the program. Last year, Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards pitched indexing the income thresholds that determine who owes the tax to inflation, when the county voted to

delay an increase

to the tax at the behest of Kotek. The county board is planning to take up potential changes to the Preschool for All tax starting in the coming weeks, officials have said.

Lara Media has secured contracts to do work for several governments and organizations in the Portland area, including TriMet, the Port of Portland, Metro and others. The firm plans to deliver a final report on its findings in October and brief the Board of Commissioners next spring, according to the contract. That timeline is subject to change, Yambra said.

— Austin De Dios covers county politics, programs and more. Reach him at 503-319-9744, adedios@oregonian.com or @AustinDeDios.

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