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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.
Estes noted in his budget
message that the adjustments
for this year “do not address
long-term staffing and bud-
get issues which need to be
addressed sooner rather than
later.”
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