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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 6, 2017)
3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JUNE 6, 2017 Sewer surcharge will rise in new Astoria budget Customers will see 6 percent hike for project By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian The Astoria City Council approved a $37 million bud- get Monday night that, once again, includes increases to the sewer surcharge. The budget reflects a high demand on city services cou- pled with increased rates for Oregon’s public pension fund. Appropriations for the gen- eral fund — the “meat of the budget,” as one city coun- cilor described it — have increased. In his budget message for the fiscal year that begins in July, City Manager Brett Estes said, “The city needs to con- tinue evaluating all service levels with a mindset toward long-term sustainability,” add- ing, “it is imperative for the city to maintain a sharp eye on budgets, programs, projects and funding.” Next year’s budget is slightly down from the this fiscal year’s spending plan of $37.7 million, itself down from the year before that. A sewer surcharge will rise by 6 percent. The surcharge helps finance the multimil- lion-dollar sewer improve- ment project to reduce waste- water into the Columbia River and meet federal Clean Water Act standards. The city negotiated an extension on both the proj- ect completion dates and loan payable dates, keeping the surcharge increases slightly lower, but around for a longer period of time. The project is expected to be completed by 2028. The City Council also approved modifying a frame- work used to size water meters. Unlike this fiscal year, there were no increases to water rates. Astoria, like other cit- ies across Oregon, has seen resources such as state and federal grants wane coupled with increased limitations on how cities can generate reve- nue, Estes said. A measure on the ballot last year for a 3 percent tax on the sale of recreational mari- juana in Astoria was one way to address the challenge. Vot- ers approved the measure, but Estes said the city is still not sure what sort of revenue the tax will generate. Those figures were not available Monday night and were not included in the approved budget. The budget also reflected the need for building sustain- Transportation funding hearing keys on transit Payroll tax one of several finance options By PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau SALEM — Gov. Kate Brown on Monday inaugu- rated three days of hearings on a mammoth state transportation funding package by highlight- ing the role of transit in lifting people out of poverty. One of the most popular de- mands state lawmakers heard from constituents during a tour of the state last year was the need for more convenient tran- sit options, Brown noted. The solution legislators on the Joint Committee on Trans- portation Preservation and Modernization devised was a 0.1-percent payroll tax on em- ployees’ wages. The tax is one of several that help fund the $8 billion, 10-year package of transportation projects. The personnel tax has at- tracted multiple angles of scru- tiny. Mary Kyle McCurdy of 1000 Friends of Oregon said transit is “the lifeline of opportunity.” But she noted that the tax is regressive by creating an extra burden for low-income resi- Capital Bureau The Legislature Monday began three-days of hear- ings on an $8 billion trans- portation package. dents, who use transit at dispro- portionately higher rates and al- ready pay fares. The tax would cost mini- mum wage workers about $20 per year. The tax would raise an es- timated $107 million per year for transit. Provisions in the bill prohibit the revenue from being used on light rail improvements. Oregon is provincial in its development of rail compared with Washington state and Cal- ifornia, said speakers with the Association of Oregon Rail and Transit Advocates. Rail lines have only single tracks, making efficient commuting almost im- possible. Washington state and California have moved to dou- ble and triple-track lines, said Dan McFarland of the rail and transit group. Rural lawmakers also have criticized the tax, as some areas are too scarcely populated to have transit. During discussions on what should be included in the bill, state Sen. Fred Girod, R-Stay- ton, suggested levying the tax only on workers who live in transit districts. “To ask somebody out in the country to pay 0.1 percent … to try to justify it to those peo- ple the first thing they’re going to say is, ‘This is Portland money,’” Girod said last month. Local officials, however, said new revenue from the payroll tax would enable local districts to fund programs that give public transportation tickets to low-in- come individuals without charge. The majority of nearly 30 speakers Monday expressed overwhelming support for the bill. The bill’s harsher critics were largely absent from Mon- day’s hearing. Attendees spoke by invitation only and were se- lected for their role in a work- group that helped craft the bill. The plan identifies a few specific projects to ease conges- tion, but other projects would be prioritized by the Oregon Trans- portation Commission. Specific projects would: • Add lanes on Interstate 5 near Portland’s Rose Quarter from Interstate 84 to Interstate 405. • Add northbound and south- bound lanes on Highway 217 through the Portland metro area. • Widen Interstate 205 to six lanes from Oregon City to Staf- ford Road. • Widen and seismically re- inforce Interstate 205’s Aber- nethy Bridge. The plan raises an aver- age of about $800 million per year in additional transportation funding. The money would come from increases in the gas tax and ve- hicle fees and a set of new taxes over the next 10 years, including: • Gradual gas tax increase from 30 cents to 42 cents by 2025. • Tiered increase in title and registration fees, depending on type of vehicle. Surcharge of $100 for electric vehicles, and $15 for other vehicles. • Statewide payroll tax of 0.1 percent to pay for mass transit. • Tolls to be determined. • Bicycle excise tax of 3 percent. • Dealer privilege tax of 0.75 percent on new and used vehi- cle purchases. The Capital Bureau is a col- laboration between EO Media Group and Pamplin Media Group. ability into certain depart- ments, particularly the belea- guered Parks and Recreation Department. That department faced both a budget shortfall and a history of shortages that have forced it to cut some pro- grams this year while strug- gling to maintain remaining programs with a bare-bones staff. Parks operations, which have not been a part of the general fund since fiscal year 2012-13, have a bud- get of $1.1 million for aquat- ics, recreation/administration and maintenance. As in years past, the city opted to trans- fer money from the general fund to make up the rest of the necessary funding for parks operations. City councilors and staff this year have been looking at ways to avoid such trans- fers in the future. For months they have been discussing how to establish more reliable funding sources to keep parks sustainable and bring it to a point where the department can begin to hire more staff to address its wide-ranging and growing list of responsibilities. 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