NEWS/PUZZLES
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2019
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A13
Holiday Happenings
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Santa’s in town
At left , Eva Shrestha visits with Santa Claus at the Union Club in Hermiston on
Dec. 7. The man in red has made appearances throughout the city in the past
month, including several businesses, nursing homes, the Harkenrider Senior
Activity Center and the Festival Street.
Living Nativity scene
Above, actors portray angels during the “Living Nativity” on Saturday night at
the First United Methodist Church in Hermiston.
Contributed photo by Binita Shrestha
State gas tax to go up by 2 cents in January
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
As the state prepares to
raise gas taxes another 2
cents in January, Hermis-
ton already has plans for the
increased revenue.
The 4-cent gas tax
increase in the Legislature’s
2017 transportation package
gave the city of Hermiston
an extra $230,000 for street
projects in 2019, and the city
expects the 2-cent increase
on Jan. 1 to add another
$120,000 to that amount.
The city of Hermis-
ton hasn’t imposed its own
gas tax, but all Oregonians
pay 34 cents per gallon in
state gas taxes and 18.4
cents per gallon in federal
taxes. The state distributes
30% of its gas tax to cities,
20% to counties and 50% to
the Oregon Department of
Transportation.
City Manager Byron
Smith said the city used
the additional gas tax funds
it received to increase the
number of projects it com-
pleted, instead of using them
to backfi ll the budget.
“We want to be very
Contributed photo by the city of Hermiston
A Hermiston Water Department crew replaces a valve from the
early 20th century at the intersection of Hermiston Avenue
and Southwest Fourth Street in Hermiston earlier this year.
strategic about how to
invest the increased gas
tax revenues, which we
knew would be coming
our way as a result of the
Legislature’s 2017 gas tax
increases,” he said in a
statement. “That’s why we
didn’t simply absorb those
funds to pay for business as
usual, but we chose to pro-
gram those dollars for spe-
cifi c capital improvement
projects, which have been
CRYPTOQUIP
needed for many years.”
Hermiston also gained
additional money for roads
through a 33% increase in
franchise fees, which the
city council passed in 2017.
Utilities, such as electric
companies and internet pro-
viders, pay the franchise fees
in exchange for placing their
infrastructure in the city’s
right-of-way. The increase
has raised about $450,000
per year.
The city spent nearly $1.8
million on street upkeep and
new projects in 2019. Those
projects included overlays
on Harper Road, West High-
land Avenue and Hermis-
ton Avenue. The city also
rebuilt part of Hermiston
Avenue, replaced a bridge
over an irrigation canal on
South First Place, and is
in the midst of a project to
pave East Theater Lane from
Northeast Eighth Street to
Northeast 10th.
The Theater Lane proj-
ect will continue into 2020,
and the city is also working
on designing a $1.5 million
project to realign the three-
way intersection between
Geer Road, Harper Road
and North First Place where
they cross the railroad tracks
near Theater Sports Park.
That project is expected to
be complete in 2022.
Other projects the city
will spend road funding on
in the future can be found
in its capital improvement
plan.
Assistant City Manager
Mark Morgan said back in
2017 the city looked at a
number of ways to raise rev-
SUPER CROSSWORD: MIX OF FISH
enue for roads, but decided
against a local gas tax
because so many Hermiston
residents buy their gas from
cheaper locations along the
interstate, outside city limits.
“For Hermiston, it would
generate revenue — all taxes
generate revenue — but it
wouldn’t be as impactful as,
say, Pendleton or Stanfi eld
that are right on the free-
way,” he said.
They also ruled out a
fee added to utility bills,
because Hermiston has more
than 4,000 people who live
outside city limits but inside
the city’s urban growth
boundary, meaning many
of the people who drive on
the city’s roads every day
wouldn’t pay the fee.
As Pendleton considers
new taxes to raise money to
fi x crumbling streets, it can
be easy to draw comparisons
between the quality of roads
in the two similar-sized
Umatilla County cities. But
Morgan said it’s not apples
to apples — Hermiston
experienced growth much
later than Pendleton, and
roughly one-third of its city
streets were built in the past
30 years.
“Hermiston really grew
after the point where vehic-
ular travel was already the
norm,” he said.
Some of the numbers
bear that out.
A February study com-
missioned by the city of
Pendleton found that Pend-
leton’s road quality was a
couple points lower than
Hermiston’s on the pave-
ment
condition
index,
although Hermiston’s data
only included arterials and
collectors, typically a town’s
largest and busiest streets.
The Pendleton City
Council is planning to make
up for the deferred mainte-
nance by implementing a
local gas tax, hotel room fee,
and an increase to the street
utility fee in 2020, although
the gas tax will need voter
approval before it goes into
effect.
The city expects these
new taxes and fees will gen-
erate more than $1 million in
revenue, but Public Works
Director Bob Patterson said
the state gas tax will still
play a role in future street
funding.
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