Tax plan restores road funds

Arthur Smith, county public works director, doesn’t want to become too excited about having $1 million per year to relieve budget constraints until the paperwork is signed — and he learns whether citizens will refer the controversial new taxes to the ballot.

“I’m not entirely certain it will be widely supported by voters but it would be a huge shot in the arm for the county,” he said. “We are in wait-and-see mode right now, but we are hopeful.”

When the federal government stopped compensating rural counties for lost harvest receipts in national forests, Smith said the county lost at least $500,000 per year. The payments offset a decline in harvest revenue shared with counties to make up for land within their borders that was off the tax rolls and could not be developed.

Smith said Wasco County initially got $2 million per year in compensation after a series of environmental regulations drastically reduced harvest levels. Those payments gradually declined over the years to a final payment of $500,000 in 2015.

The result of the funding loss, said Smith, was a 50 percent reduction in the public works department, either through layoff or attrition. Today, the county maintains and repairs 697 miles of roads — about 300 miles paved — with a 25-person crew. In addition to roads, the crew is responsible for 124 bridges, hundreds of culverts, signage and guardrails.

Smith said it would be nice to have enough revenue in the budget to return to the standard of having 10 percent of the road system, about 30 miles, repaved or otherwise maintained each year. Limited funding has dropped that number to 10 or 12 miles per year.

“We are chip sealing now and not paving and this funding from the state would go a long way toward letting us get back on schedule,” said Smith.

He also said the additional funds would take away some of the worry when a long, cold winter, such as the last one, drained the fiscal year overtime budget in just a few weeks. He said another area of concern could be addressed: Replacing road graders that are almost 40 years old and other aging equipment, something not being done at the present time to save costs.

“Reps. Greg Smith and John Huffman did a huge lift to help get the transportation package and I can’t thank them enough,” said Smith. “It’s not quite Christmas — more like a terrific birthday present — but it’s still significant.”

Huffman, R-The Dalles, said the $5.3 billion package of tax and fee increases was slimmed down from the $8 billion proposal by Brown in order to gain Republican support. He said GOP leaders insisted on concessions for implementation of the low-carbon fuel standard approved in the 2015 session. Reduction of carbon intensity in fuels was expected to cost between 4 and 19 cents per gallon when enacted by the Department of Environmental Quality.

Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario, who co-chaired the House Transportation Committee, proposed a cap of 22 cents per gallon, which Huffman and other members of the minority party lobbied to get in place.

“I supported the transportation package after meeting with the governor and House Speaker (Tina Kotek) and telling them that there needed to be a cap on the carbon program,” said Huffman.

“Oregonians need certainty at the gas pump and they are already looking at a series of fuel tax increases with the transportation package.”

He said House Bill 2017, which authorized revenue generators for infrastructure improvements, was the culmination of almost two years of research, negotiations, public hearings and community tours to find a compromise solution that both parties could agree on.

He personally wanted to see as many spending cuts as possible to obtain the money for road and bridge improvements, but said that idea “went nowhere” in the Democrat-controlled House, Senate and governor’s office.

“There was a lot of nibbling around the edges of cutting costs, but nothing serious was done,” he said.

HB 2017 raises revenue in several ways, including a new .5 percent tax on purchases of cars, motorhomes and other recreational and sport-utility vehicles.

Seismic upgrades to bridges and other highway modernizations will be funded through a 10-cent incremental gas tax increase. A 4-cent hike takes place in January 2018 and is followed by 2-cent annual increases in 2020, 2022 and 2024.

The 2-cent increases only go into effect if state officials can demonstrate that certain milestones have been met to justify higher prices at the pump.

The current gas tax is 30 cents per gallon.

A flat $15 fee on bicycle sales of at least $200 would be imposed to pay for about $1.2 million per year in bike and pedestrian infrastructure projects. A new statewide .1 percent payroll tax on resident’s paychecks from employers, advertised at $20 per year for the average minimum-wage earner, will raise funds for public transit projects to improve connectivity in non-urban areas.

Vehicle title fees go up by $16 in 2018 and registration fees by $13, followed by additional bumps in 2020 and 2022.

Fuel-efficient vehicles could see even higher fees because they generate less gas tax revenue. About $12 million per year would be available for rebates on electric and other zero-emission vehicles.

The Portland-metro area is also expected to see some highway tolls to ease the area’s growing traffic problems.

Huffman said $10 million per year would be used from the additional revenue to implement safe routes to schools across the state. That funding would increase to $15 million annually in 2023.

Transit districts in outlying areas of the state would get a boost of about $130 million per year, with an estimated $596,000 as Wasco County’s share.

Huffman said the state will keep 50 percent of the new revenue, with 30 percent given to counties and 20 percent to cities.

The Dalles is expected to gain another $369,000 per year with the 10-cent increase in the gas tax and Maupin about $11,000.