Funding Runs Dry for Oregon Roads
A report published by the League of Oregon Cities details the increasing difficulties faced by cities around the state to fund and repair roads.
From the Register-Guard:
From Portland to Ashland, in communities large and small, a lack of money is making it difficult for many cities to maintain streets, according to the League of Oregon Cities."Cities do not have adequate resources to conduct proper street maintenance and preservation, but have to triage, choosing what emergency road treatments to provide while watching overall city road conditions slide," according to a report by the association.
The trend began to appear in the 1990s, when voters passed statewide property tax limit Measures 5 and 50, the league said in its report titled "City Streets: Investing in a Neglected Asset."
Cities reacted by shifting money away from roads and toward core services of police and fire, the report said.
Oregon cities now rely on state and local gas taxes to fund road repairs, but these sources are falling short:
Most cities rely on the state gas tax for road repairs, but the 24-cents-a-gallon state levy has not been increased since 1993.As a result, the amount of the annual tax collected has dropped from $45 per person in 2000 to less than $40 now, the league said.
Some cities, including Eugene and Springfield, have passed local gas taxes to help pay for streets.
The league said Springfield's 3-cents-a-gallon gas tax in 2003 allowed the city's road fund to avoid financial "insolvency."
At current levels, "Springfield can continue modest (street) preservation efforts," the league's report said. But "the street fund will again reach a perilous state in about three years. At that point, the city must identify alternative local revenue sources," such as raising the local gas tax or imposing another tax.
Small towns and rural areas are especially struggling:
Local gas taxes have helped larger cities, but don't help tiny communities because they can't raise substantial amounts, the league said.In Lowell, a town of 955 residents southeast of Eugene, most of the streets are "at a critical point, needing repaving," the report said.
Last year, Lowell's shares of the state gas tax amounted only to $44,152 in state road funds.
Lane County used to give Lowell road fund money every year - the most recent annual amount was $67,000.
But the county this year eliminated that aid.
Read the rest. Discuss.
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Oct. 01, 2007
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connect with blueoregon
Oct 1, '07
Perhaps we don't need so many roads? Check out the map of roads in Oregon... every square inch has some form of road on it (not all maintained!)
Oct 1, '07
There are two problems. One is that the gas tax is not generating enough revenue. The second is that what money is available has been spent on adding capacity, deferring basic maintenance of existing roads. The result is that roads now need much more expensive rebuilding and repairs that would not have been necessary if they had been maintained in a timely manner.
The overall result is that the paved road network is slowly returning to gravel. The choice jurisdictions are faced with his how much or how soon. If they triage roads and focus on priorities, the remaining roads will deteriorate much more rapidly. If they try to slow the deterioration of all roads, the entire network will eventually require rebuilding, albeit decades from now.
4:13 p.m.
Oct 1, '07
Yeah, because we have even less people living in Oregon now than 10 years ago. /snark
(shakes head)
Oct 1, '07
Yet there's always plenty of dough for light rail, streetcars, trams, bicycle traffic signals, etc. You know- the really important stuff.
5:27 p.m.
Oct 1, '07
Most of light rail comes from Federal money which does not fund city surface street maintenance. So even if nothing was ever spent in light rail, it would not add a single Federal penny to city street maintenance. It would however increase the wear and tear on the streets and they would be in even worse shape than they already are since even more traffic would be on city streets.
Nice try trollbot.
5:54 p.m.
Oct 1, '07
Additional, upgraded, and repaired roads are indeed important to Oregon.
I know they're important in the less populated areas of the state, but my direct experience is with eastern Multnomah County.
Between 1990 and 2000, Gresham saw its population increase by 32.3%. Since 1980, we've seen the population increase 194.21%. However, roads out this way have not kept up with the population increase (neither has public transportation). The city and state have been able to come up with some funding to upgrade the rest of Kane (which is heavily used for traffic between I-84 and Mt. Hood), but they're still at least a million short. Not to mention the money needed to upgrade a few of the side streets with heavy vehicle and pedestrian traffic.
Powell desperately needs an upgrade to allow for 2 lanes of traffic each way, but that has yet to be done. And it's only going to get more and more expensive since more development is being put in near the road.
6:29 p.m.
Oct 1, '07
The 24 cent per gallon tax has declined both as a percentage of the price per gallon of gasoline and in real terms due to inflation. We need to raise the gas tax to pay for the roads.
Oct 1, '07
"lestatdelc"? Just out of curiosity, what the hell does that handle represent? Some sort of weird vampire/satanic thing or what?
Back on topic, who cares where the funds come from? Federal, State, County, City...if our roads are in such poor condition, shouldn't we make basic road maintenance a higher priority than developing alternate modes of transport?
Oct 1, '07
Most of light rail comes from Federal money which does not fund city surface street maintenance.
Uh huh. Federal money. Like that's not your highway transportation dollars being sucked by the billions into light rail, bike paths, and the "transportation corridor" known as the Vera Katz Esplanade?
Nice try, yourself.
9:58 p.m.
Oct 1, '07
Yeah it's a "satanic thing" ... I eat babies too. LOL
Actually it's a contraction of the full name of the main protaganist in the best-selling series of novels by Anne Rice. It is the handle used when I first started going online some 13 years ago or so, first on Prodigy, then eWorld (Apple's version of what became AOL) then on the old New York Times forums, and have used it as an online screename ever since.
10:02 p.m.
Oct 1, '07
Personally, I am grateful to the taxpayers and to current and past generations of Oregonians for their support of high quality public transportation. It enables me to get to work and get around town pretty well without a car. If I were driving myself to work in the mornings I'd be a danger to myself and others.
10:06 p.m.
Oct 1, '07
Thanks for trying a different strawman argument since as I noted, Federal light-rail money would never go to city street maintenance. So with your original strawman up in flames, now you trot out the "thats your highway dollars" bizarro attempt some sort of boogeyman conjuring.
I have no problem with Federal money going to fund light-rail development, which helps reduce the traffic load on intestates and highways (I-84 for example). Why do you hate public investment of Federal funds in light-rail?
Do you simply hate light-rail no matter the whether the money comes from local, county, state, federal?
Oct 1, '07
Ross Williams: I would like clarification where ODOT has added capacity to Oregon's roads.
Lestatdelc: In ODOT's STIP dollars recently given to just the City of Portland, over $147 MILLION was designated in 40 projects for things like bike paths, pedestrian bridges, commuter education, commuter enhancement programs, sidewalks, trolleys, light rail, commuter rail, etc. STIP dollars are from gas taxes. Nothing for added capacity of streets, roads. There is money in our gas taxes that can help congestion. It is once again choosing PRIORITIES.
10:30 p.m.
Oct 1, '07
Yet there's always plenty of dough for light rail, streetcars, trams, bicycle traffic signals, etc. You know- the really important stuff.
Serious question that maybe someone can answer:
How much total money (federal, state, local) is spent in Oregon on road construction and maintenance - and how much on alternative transit? What's the ratio?
A little light here might help alleviate some of the heat.
10:34 p.m.
Oct 1, '07
lestatdelc:
I always figured that's where the name came from. I really enjoyed that series of books.
Oct 2, '07
"since as I noted, Federal light-rail money would never go to city street maintenance. "
Maybe when Earl writes up the bills to get this money he makes sure it is earmarked ONLY for light rail. This way Mr Adams can always say he cant use the money for anything else.
Besides that, we always seem to find money to build mass transit (even in the evil Bush era), unless you can tell me a mass transit project that got stopped for lack of funding.
Most of us are hoping for something a littel more creative than raising taxes since the average taxpayer between mortgages, school for kids and paying for gas is pretty strapped. Yet he sees the state with a 20% upside in budget.
However, there is never enough for schools or keeping the light rail running, Sellwood bridge repaired, police protection, etc. I think this is pretty short-sighted in terms of prioritizing things.
Oct 2, '07
This is part of a greater problem, and it is a national disgrace -- America's infrastructure is crumbling. From our airports, to electrical grids, to plumbing, we are not investing even a fraction of what is needed to maintain, let alone upgrade, our infrastructure.
Yet the likes of Bush & his followers can find a trillion dollars to squander in Iraq. It's an utter sin.
Oct 2, '07
I KNOW, LETS LET THE PRIVATE SECTOR DO THE ROADS, AIRPORTS, AND THE BRIDGES, THEY ARE BETTER SUITED THAN THE GOVERMENT FOR MAKING A BIG MESS OF THINGS. LOL
Oct 2, '07
Yea, just look at the private sector do what is inherently a government obligation to its citizens-- defense contractor Blackwater in Iraq -- is the latest example.
Oct 2, '07
I would like clarification where ODOT has added capacity to Oregon's roads.
I5 north of downtown Portland, Highway 26 from 217-Murray, Highway 26 at Sylvan, a bypass around Bend, Kruse Way interchange, Jackson-School Road interchange ... that is off the top of my head.
At least spending money on alternatives to people driving their cars slows down the deterioration of the roads. Adding capacity just increases traffic and makes the problem worse.
Oct 2, '07
It's all about the disparity between priorities. 30 billion on childrens health care for 5 years or; (fair and balanced) $300 bil. right now to insure security and self governance in Iraq? (unedited) $300 bil. to "democratise" Iraq.
What a huge disparity in spending priorities. An ill conceived war for the wrong reasons trumps children's health care. For shame if Congress does not muster the courage to override a President whose priorities are warped - in my humble opinion. Peace.
Back on topic, I hope more Fed funding is available to provide security for the PDX light rail making it safer to ride. How about just 5% of the war budget. Think it will happen? Priorities people, that's the ticket.
Oct 2, '07
Democrats don’t spend money on Oregon roads, didn’t you know that. Light rail, bike paths and stuff like that get our money. 4500 ODOT workers get our money, ODOT paper work gets our money, and a few people making 132K a year are getting 32K pay raises this year. Money from gas taxes should pay for roads nothing else, but the politicians move that money to other places, look at what they did this year. I purchase 45 gallons of gas a week, the wife and I and that’s a bit conservative, 45 X 52 weeks = 2340 + 500 (long trips) = 2840 X .23 = $653.20 I pay $653 dollars a year in gas tax, now times that by oh 1.7 million drivers in Oregon. 1.7 million X $653.20 = $1,110,440,000.00 that’s a lot of money each year. I’m not even adding in what truckers pay for gas and weith taxes. Now divide that by 8 million, that is roughly (138) 8 million dollar projects. We have the money, Democrats choose to spend it else ware.
10:01 p.m.
Oct 2, '07
I purchase 1/4 of the gas a week INthewoods does and I drive to Eugene and back to Portland twice every other weekend. Inthewoods makes some wild ass assumptions that his gas consumption is at ll the average or median.
Oct 2, '07
David, You are like my mom, you like to blame Bush for our problems here in Oregon, like I tell my mom Bush is not to blame, Gov. K and the politicians here in Oregon are to blame. Each state is set up so that they are on there own, its easy to blame Bush for things BUT HE DOESN’T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH OREGONS PEOBLEMS!!! You need to look at who is running the ship here in this state and its Democrats and the unions; we have had a democrat in the Gov’s seat for over 24 years in this state. If you haven’t figured it out David, the Democrats here in this state love to SPEND YOUR MONEY and My Money!!! Oregon controls Oregon, Bush does not control Oregon.
Oct 2, '07
lestatdelc,
I think the INthewoods presumes that everyone else is driving a Hummer as well. I heard that there was a liberal conspiracy to get people to drive those Prius cars, cause funds for roads to fall and create all this mess. Thanks for the confirmation.
Oct 3, '07
inthewoods (where I think he/she actually lives) conveniently forgets that repubs ran the legislature for all those years and obstructed much of the state business. And yes, we CAN blame Bush and the repubs who controlled Congress for 14 years for not giving us (and the rest of America) more money for roads, for airport upgrades, for port overhauls, for electrical grid modernization, et.al.
But Bush and his boot-lickers sure can find the money to start phony wars (by the way, has inthewoods served in the military, or his/her kids - if not, ship 'em out now).
Oct 3, '07
I see that Mr. "inthewoods" sure is capable with using his calculator to point out taxes that are collected (I'm not going to check his figures, but someone should - you know how these neo-cons pathologically lie all the time).
For certain, Mr. "inthewoods" hasn't used his calculator to figure out how Bush and his blind supporters are squandering the soon-to-be-TRILLION dollars in Iraq.
And I think Mr. "David" has a good point: if Mr. "inthewoods" has kids, then I think they ought to be in the military, and in Iraq, supporting Bush's occupation and needless, sinful bloodshed. Perhaps Mr. "inthewoods" ought to join the military himself to show his support for Bush and the Iraq quagmire.
Mr. "inthewoods", you can find "Armed Forces Examination & Entrance Services" in the white pages, under Federal Gov't. I bet you won't bother, though.
Oct 4, '07
Maria I was in the military, blew my knee out and got out on a medical. Did you join? Have you served your country? Didn't think so, My daughter is 2 and my son was born on the 3rd, and you bet I will make sure they look at the military as a career choice. It doesn’t matter who the commander and chief is, you serve for your country, and yes Maria, I would take a bullet to make sure you and all Americans are free in this country.
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