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Transportation Funding

We have watched with great interest as Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams reaches out to Portland citizens to discuss ideas to raise several hundred million dollars for needed transportation improvements in the city. This is not an easy discussion, but it cannot be avoided much longer.

Since the Legislature has not increased the state gas tax since 1993, and this year also rejected proposals for vehicle registration, license, and title fees to pay for road safety and maintenance improvements, local government leaders must consider their own options for solutions before transportation problems get much worse.

Portland is not alone. All local governments throughout the region and the state face the challenge of maintaining the existing road system while also planning to accommodate expected growth. With growing traffic congestion, we all know that we need to make investments right now to maintain our quality of life, economic competitiveness, mobility, and safety in the not too distant future.

Our investments in mass transit are unquestionably critical as well. Light rail extensions to Clackamas Town Center and Milwaukie will ensure residents and businesses that aren’t in the central city have real alternatives besides our already crowded roads and highways. The population of Clackamas County is projected to double in the next 20-30 years and we need to expand our transportation system to accommodate not just those who will come here, but those who are already living and working and experiencing congestion here today.

Citizens are understandably concerned about increased taxes. Consider utility rates—if PGE spends a billion dollars for capital expansion, this cost is translated into a monthly impact on an average rate payer. In the Portland Metro Region with 2 million registered vehicles, a billion dollars worth of transportation projects could cost $2.08/month, per vehicle, over twenty years. That’s a small increase in your utility bill, but the impact on our transportation system could be huge.

Though utility providers can raise rates anytime to make capital investments in their systems, local governments have a responsibility to engage their ratepayers—voters—about the choices and consequences of investment, or disinvestment, in this critical utility. The public deserves to understand the tradeoffs regarding traffic safety and congestion while helping us shape cost effective solutions.

While Commissioner Adams may be raising a difficult topic, his willingness to bring these issues forward to the public is a model for other local elected officials to follow. In the coming months, we will be asking the citizens of Clackamas County to consider similar choices about what transportation investments are important to them. While local jurisdictions each consider their own options, we must not lose sight of the fact that the regional transportation system is a shared community asset. In order to preserve and improve it, as we would with any resource, we will all need to work together—cities, counties, state and Metro, residents and businesses, to determine appropriate and effective solutions to the transportation concerns that the region faces now and in the very near future.

Mayor Bob Austin, Estacada
Mayor Jim Bernard, Milwaukie
Mayor Wade Byers, Gladstone
Mayor Tom Foster, Molalla
Mayor Judie Hammerstad, Lake Oswego
Commissioner Bill Kennemer, Clackamas County
Mayor Norm King, West Linn
Mayor Charlotte Lehan, Wilsonville
Mayor Linda Malone, Sandy
Mayor Alice Norris, Oregon City
Mayor Lou Ogden, Tualatin
Commissioner Lynn Peterson, Clackamas County
Commissioner Martha Schrader, Clackamas County
Mayor Melody Thompson, Canby
Mayor Dee Wescott, Damascus
Mayor Rob Wheeler, Happy Valley