In January, I wrote about the need for a statewide transportation funding bill that prioritized investments in operations, maintenance, and safety. As many of you know, that bill did not make it out of the legislature by the end of this year’s long session.
Governor Kotek has now called back our legislators to Salem on August 29th to deal with the funding issues at the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). Due to the lack of a transportation bill, ODOT has announced around 500 layoffs that the governor has delayed until September; they were to take effect on July 31st. ODOT’s funding gap stands at $354 million for the biennium.
The governor is floating a possible $5.5 billion over 10 years transportation “band-aid” that includes raising the gas tax six cents, raising title and registration fees, setting a date certain for road user charge for electric vehicles, and some sort of “tax vacation” for heavy duty users who have been disproportionately paying for their road impacts. Governor Kotek has committed that gas tax, title, and registration fee increases would follow the 50/30/20 distribution. The rough estimate is that it would generate roughly an additional $70 million per year for cities (a 30% increase). This funding model is critical for cities and counties to maintain our transportation infrastructure.
The governor also said she favors raising a 0.1% tax on Oregonians’ paychecks that goes to public transit. Transit agencies have warned of steep service cuts if that isn’t increased. Democrats proposed increasing the tax to 0.18% during this year’s session, but there is talk she could suggest doubling the tax to 0.2%. There are no funds proposed for HB 2017 anchor projects (for example, the I-205 widening and Rose Quarter capping projects), safe routes to schools, nor Great Streets.
Republican leadership insists that the state should repurpose existing tax revenue to fund ODOT rather than raising taxes and that the legislature’s Emergency Board, which is allowed to spend a limited amount of money while lawmakers are not in session, could opt to close ODOT’s funding gap rather than having a special session.
The City of Tualatin continues to stand ready to assist and provide input during the coming special session.
