Budget stuff is pretty boring, but the latest summaries of this year's money requests at the Portland City Council contain some interesting reading. Here are what the city commissioners' offices are asking for, compared to last year:

Mayor Sam Adams: +19%
Commissioner Randy Leonard: +2.2%
Commissioner Dan Saltzman: -41.9%
Commissioner Nick Fish: +8.3%
Commissioner Amanda Fritz: +2.3%

The mayor's big increase stems mainly from three big-ticket items: $106,000 "to fund security services for the mayor" (a new bodyguard, perhaps?); $100,000 for a director for the mayor's various education initiatives; and $741,750 for new education programs. The latter consist of "SUN Service System Expansion/Enhancement to develop a core set of services for academic-priority SUN high school students" ($100,000); "Summer Youth Connect to continue funding of interventions to increase graduation and post-secondary access through career planning and work experience" ($325,000); "Education Strategy Support to provide general support for the Education Cabinet and Annual Education Summit" ($115,000); "Youth Engagement to continue the Multnomah Youth Commission and expand youth program aides beyond the Youth Planner Program" ($33,750); and "Future Connect Scholarship program to provide scholarship grants for the first two years of study at Portland or Mt. Hood Community Colleges" ($168,000). Our mayor sure has a fondness for those teenagers.

The big cut in Saltzman's budget is pretty mysterious. It does not appear that the inner workings of his office are changing in any way. There was a one-time $1.32 million capital expense of some kind booked to Saltzman last year, and it won't be repeated this year. It probably had to do with the "children's investment fund," whereby city tax dollars are spent on education-related programs without running the money through the school district budget (and its property tax limitations). "Legend" Saltzman is very much for the children, and he cuts an appropriately somber figure at young people's funerals.

Meanwhile, Fish is getting a new administrative assistant in his office as he coasts to re-election:

This add package requests a new Commissioner's Administrative Support Specialist position. The package is funded through salary savings gained from reducing one current position from full-time to part-time combined with interagency funding from the Portland Housing Bureau.