FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
4 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
Opinion / Local
— Guest Opinion —
OTEC sets up Main
Street Christmas tree
Dust or
pavement,
taxes or not
By Rep. Cliff Bentz
We are losing our paved streets
and roads.
Between 20 and 50 percent of the
streets and roads in many of our
cities and counties are in “poor” or
“very poor” condition.
When asphalt reaches these con-
ditions, it has to be replaced-at a
cost of about $200,000 to $300,000
per mile, twice what it would have
cost had it been appropriately cared
for.
Obviously, we should be prevent-
ing our roads and streets still in
“good” and “fair” condition from
transitioning into the “poor” cat-
egory, but we are not.
Instead, we are letting our good
roads wear out (counties and cities
are financially able to chip-coat
only about a third of what they
should maintain each year) while
we fight the losing battle of patch-
ing patches on bad roads.
Where are we going to find the
$200,000 to $300,000 per mile to
replace our hundreds of miles of
roads already “lost?”
Or, for that matter, the $30,000
per mile it takes, every sixth or
seventh year, to chip coat and pre-
serve our good roads?
So, should we be paying more
for the use of our roads?
That discussion must start with
an understanding of how much the
average Oregonian now pays for
that use.
Fortunately, most of the tax that
we pay at the pump to the govern-
ment is transparent.
For example, the cost of state gas
tax, registration fees, and titles fees
totals about 44.2 cents per gal-
lon-30 cents of which is state gas
tax.
The average Oregon driver drives
10,234 miles per year, so if her car
gets 20 miles per gallon, she pays
about $153.51 a year in state gas
tax.
If the state gas tax were to go up
by one penny, she would pay about
43 cents more per month.
There are several other govern-
ment organizations which raise
money for roads, such as local road
districts and the federal govern-
ment, but the purpose of this edito-
rial is to highlight two things: first,
how much the average Oregonian
pays in state gas tax, and second,
despite what we are currently
paying, our roads and bridges are
failing.
A future editorial will focus on
the hidden and damaging impact
Oregon carbon legislation is having
and will have on the price of fuel
and our ability to use the gas tax to
save our transportation systems.
About half of any new state gas
tax is sent back to Oregon’s cities
and counties.
The other half goes to the Oregon
Department of Transportation.
Letter to the Editor Policy: The Baker
County Press reserves the right not to pub-
lish letters containing factual falsehoods or
incoherent narrative. Letters promoting or
detracting from specific for-profit business-
es will not be published. Word limit is 375
words per letter. Letters are limited to one
every other week per author. Letters should
be submitted to Editor@TheBakerCounty-
Press.com.
Advertising and Opinion Page Dis-
claimer: Opinions submitted as Guest
Submitted Photo
Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-Ontario) is an
Assistant Republican Leader in
the House, and has served in the
Oregon Legislative Assembly since
2008. In addition to his role as
Vice-Chair of the Joint Committee
on Transportation Preservation &
Modernization, he is also the Vice-
Chair of the Revenue Committee,
and sits on the Transportation &
Economic Development Committee,
Energy and Environment Commit-
tee, the Joint Committee on Depart-
ment of Energy Oversight, and the
Legislative Counsel Committee, as
well as on various work groups and
task forces.
This money is constitutionally
dedicated to roads. Not to mass
transit. Not to State Police. Not to
any other non-road related use.
Three-quarters, more or less, of
the gas tax is paid by those on the
West side of the state, so a large
part of what is needed for main-
tenance of Eastern Oregon’s state
highways comes from the Willa-
mette Valley.
Said another way, the cost of
maintaining the thousands of es-
sential miles of state highway in
Eastern Oregon vastly exceeds
what we in Eastern Oregon pay in
state gas tax.
So, if you raise the gas tax or
registration and title fees statewide,
you are assuring that there will be
money to bring from West to East
to repair the state highways we use
almost every day.
Every conversation about need-
ing more money for road mainte-
nance must address increases in the
cost of road repair materials.
For example, the cost of oil
needed for asphalt has gone up,
since just 2004, by almost 270
percent.
Compare this 270 percent in-
crease to the state gas tax, which,
in 24 years was only raised once,
by six cents (24 percent).
Not only that, the cost of labor,
gravel, and cement has also gone
up by 50-75 percent.
As co-vice chair of the Interim
Legislative Committee charged
with addressing, in the 2017
legislative session set to begin in
February, preservation of our road
systems, what you think about
these issues is important to me.
If you think that we should
continue to “use up” our roads and
bridges, rather than paying neces-
sary maintenance as we go, please
tell me.
Or, if you think that we should
pay a higher gas tax, or higher reg-
istration or title fees, knowing that
this money must be used for our
roads and bridges, please say so.
I need to hear from you.
Opinions or Letters to the Editor express
the opinions of their authors, and have not
been authored by and are not necessarily
the opinions of The Baker County Press, any
of our staff, management, independent
contractors or affiliates. Advertisements
placed by political groups, candidates,
businesses, etc., are printed as a paid
service, which does not constitute an
endorsement of or fulfillment obligation
by this newspaper for the products or
services advertised.
On Saturday, Novem-
ber 19, through the crisp
mountain wind and first
white snowflakes of
winter, OTEC volunteers
bundled up warm, pulled
on their hard hats, grabbed
their gloves and – working
alongside multiple commu-
nity partners – helped se-
cure and safely deliver the
annual downtown Christ-
mas tree in Baker City.
“It looks like a regular
tree up until the crews
begin securing, measuring
and lifting it onto the tow
truck,” said OTEC’s Man-
ager of Communications
Lara Petitclerc-Stokes. “It
takes weeks of preparation
and partnering with our
community leadership for
this annual event to run
smoothly.”
“Once it’s in the air,
you truly begin to see how
all of the logistical puzzle
pieces fit into place and re-
alize that you are working
with an object that weighs
3,176 pounds and reaches
into the air 35’ feet,” said
Petitclerc-Stokes. “It’s
quite the sight to see and
very exciting to watch our
crews and community part-
ners in action doing what
they do best.”
OTEC volunteers and
crews were also out
visiting schools in Elgin
and Prairie City over the
weekend to help with local
construction projects.
“What was really ap-
pealing about volunteering
for this Elgin High School
construction project was
that it was for a house the
construction students actu-
ally built themselves,” said
OTEC’s Working Foreman
Dan Patton. “Kudos to the
shop teacher that put this
project together encourag-
ing their students to build
an entire house. It has
value to the kids because
these are real world ap-
plications that will serve
them well moving forward
in their lives.”
“One of the core prin-
ciples of the coopera-
tive businesses model is
‘Concern for Community’,
and Oregon Trail Electric
Cooperative takes that
seriously,” said Petitclerc-
Stokes. “Contributing
to the communities we
serve in a variety of ways.
For OTEC, as a non-
profit electric cooperative,
service means more than
providing low cost, reliable
electricity to our members.
It means volunteering and
getting involved when we
can and, of course, as time
and budgets permit.”
OTEC regularly helps
with projects that require
the cooperative’s special-
ized equipment, includ-
ing hanging banners and
holiday lights for local
communities and replac-
ing arena lights for county
fairs.
Additionally, OTEC helps
local business and home-
owners through its en-
ergy programs, providing
hundreds of thousands of
dollars in energy-efficiency
savings every year.
“These are just a few of
the many fantastic events
OTEC partners in each
year,” said Petitclerc-
Stokes. “But, the tree
cutting has to be one of my
personal favorites. It rings
in the start of the Thanks-
giving and Christmas
holiday season and makes
you feel like a kid again.”
Poetry comes to Halfway
Join award winning poet
Carl Adamshick for a poet-
ry workshop and reading at
6:30pm on November 30th
at Crossroads Carnegie Art
Center 2020 Auburn Ave.
Baker City and December
1st at the Halfway Public
Library 260 Grover Lane,
Halfway at 1 p.m.
Attendees are encour-
aged to bring their own
poems to be recorded as
part of the Oregon Poetic
Voices Project. Recogniz-
ing the need for poetry
in our lives, the Oregon
Poetic Voices Project hass
collected and digitally ar-
chived thousands of poetry
readings from across the
state of Oregon.
Carl Adamshick is the
co-founder of Tavern
Books. He is the 2010 win-
ner of the Walt Whitman
Award and the William
Stafford poet-in-residence
at Lewis and Clark Col-
lege in Portland, OR. His
work has been published
in Narrative, American
Poetry Review, Tin House,
The Harvard Review and
elsewhere.
For more information
visit oregonpoeticvoices.
org.
Funding for this program
is provided by the Librar-
ies of Eastern Oregon
(LEO) through an ArtPlace
America grant. LEO is
a nonprofit organization
that serves libraries in its
15-county service area
with programs, online
services, and advocacy.
Funding from the Art-
Place America grant aims
to provide arts-based
programming at libraries
through various hands-on
workshops, presentations,
and art exhibits for patrons
of all ages.
OSP urges safe travels
With at least 10 people
losing their lives on state
highways over the past
week, OSP is urging
motorists to travel safely
this Thanksgiving Holiday
Weekend. Other traffic
advisories to motorists are
winter travel conditions,
Black Friday shopping
and the Civil War Game in
Corvallis.
Thanksgiving Holiday
Weekend - This holi-
day period (Wednesday
through Sunday) will see
one of the highest volumes
of traffic in over a decade
according to AAA Oregon/
Idaho.
As with other holiday
weekends OSP is urging
motorists to plan ahead,
expect heavy traffic,
— Contact Us —
expect poor driving condi-
tions with rain expected at
lower elevations and snow
in the mountain passes,
and take your time (more
traveling tips at the bottom
of this release).
Know the road condi-
tions before traveling by
going to www.tripchceck.
com required by visiting
tripcheck.com.
YOUR ELECTED
OFFICIALS
The Baker County Press
President Barack Obama
PO Box 567
Baker City, Ore. 97814
202.456.2461 fax
Open Monday-Thursday for calls
9 AM - 4 PM
Open 24/7 for emails
202.456.1414
Whitehouse.gov/contact
US Sen. Jeff Merkley
503.326.3386
503.326.2900 fax
Merkley.Senate.gov
Phone: 541.519.0572
TheBakerCountyPress.com
US Sen. Ron Wyden
541.962.7691
Wyden.Senate.gov
Kerry McQuisten, Publisher
Editor@TheBakerCountyPress.com
US Rep. Greg Walden
Wendee Morrissey, Advertising and Sales
Wendee@TheBakerCountyPress.com
541.624.2402 fax
David Conn, Advertising and Sales
David@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Published weekly every Friday.
Subscription rates per year are $29.95 all areas,
e-mail delivery. $39.95 print issue, home delivery,
Baker City city limits only. $49.95 print issue,
mail delivery, outside Baker City city limits only.
Payment in advance.
A division of
Black Lyon Publishing, LLC
541.624.2400
Walden.House.gov
Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown
503.378.3111
Governor.Oregon.gov
State Rep. Cliff Bentz
503.986.1460
State Sen. Ted Ferrioli
541.490.6528
Baker County
Commissioners Bill Harvey;
Mark Bennett; Tim Kerns
541.523.8200
Copyright © 2014 -2016
541.523.8201