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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (May 6, 2016)
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | May 6, 2016 | PAGE 9 Portland labor group supports temporary 10-cent gas tax If you live in Portland, vote for the temporary 10 cent gas tax. Just don’t expect it to solve the City’s serious street maintenance problem. The four-year 10-cent-a-gal- lon gas tax is on the May 17 bal- lot as Measure 26-173. Backed by the Northwest Oregon Labor Council, the measure would raise about $16 million a year. Of that, about $9 million a year will pay for street maintenance, and about $7 million a year will pay for safety improvements like sidewalks, lighting, bike routes, and safety improvements around schools. The trouble is, $9 mil- lion a year is a drop in the bucket: A 2013 audit said it would take more than $70 mil- lion a year for 10 years to deal with the City’s street mainte- nance backlog, thanks to decades of underfunding by the city. Why isn’t the City aiming for a complete fix? “Because we didn’t think we could get a dollar-a-gallon gas tax passed,” says Steve Novick, the City Commissioner in charge of the Portland Bureau of Trans- portation (PBOT). “Getting a “At the end of the day, if the roads are crumbling and your car is getting torn up, or kids can’t safely walk down the street or cross the street, you have to suck it up. It’s got to be paid for.” — NW Oregon Labor Council Executive Secretary Bob Tackett piece of the pie is better than nothing.” Last year, Novick and Mayor Charlie Hales considered push- ing a street fee that would be as- sessed on property owners, but they backed off in face of oppo- sition from the public and other members of City Council. The 2013 audit blamed City Council for spending money on other priorities — like streetcar operations, downtown market- ing, and transit mall upkeep — that should have gone to street maintenance. It wasn’t the first time: The City Auditor’s office warned in 2006 and again in 2008 that deferring street main- tenance would result in higher costs later on. Novick admits that the main- tenance backlog is a product of decades of City Council deci- sions, but says the current Port- land City Council tried to show good faith last year by adding $20 million to the street mainte- nance budget from the City’s general fund — the first time since 1985 that’s happened. And Commissioner Amanda Fritz earlier this year got a policy passed that says at least half of unspent budget funds and other one-time revenue must be spent on maintaining infrastructure. The proposed gas tax misses two groups of road users, Novick acknowledges: electric vehicles, because they don’t use gas, and heavy trucks. Heavy trucks are responsible for 13 per- cent of road use, but they were exempted from the tax for prac- tical reasons, because they mostly refuel outside of Port- land. Novick says he plans to add a surcharge to the weight- Northwest Oregon Labor Council Recommends: Amanda Schroeder for Multnomah County Commission District 4 4 Authorized and paid for by Northwest Oregon Labor Council COPE mile tax assessed on trucks. Gas is cheap right now, but roads continue to be expensive, and are only going to get more so. Cars are more fuel efficient than they used to be, and that’s a good thing, except that it means less dedicated revenue to main- tain roads. As many as 20 other Oregon cities have a local gas tax, though the highest one else- where is 5 cents a gallon. The State of Oregon also has a gas tax of 30 cents per gallon that it shares with cities and counties to pay for roads, and Multnomah County has a 3-cent-a-gallon gas tax. [The federal gas tax — which has been 18.4 cents per gallon since 1993 — pays for federal highways.] In 2015, the Oregon Legisla- ture was expecting to pass in- creased road funding via a statewide gas tax increase, but the effort failed when Republi- can legislators blocked the pack- age to protest passage of a clean fuels mandate. Oregon State Building Trades Council Execu- Turn to Page 11 Oregon Machinists Council Please join us in voting for for S ECRETARY OF S TATE www.bradavakian.com Authorized and paid for by the Oregon Machinists Council, Gladstone, Oregon
