Bend Could Put Gas Tax To Voters

The Bend City Council may ask voters to approve a gas tax to fund street maintenance. The city will hold a public hearing on the fuel tax November 30, and could vote on a proposal as early as December. The soonest that the gas tax would go before Bend voters would be spring 2016.

Bend's backlog of necessary street maintenance is slated to cost $80 million.

"That means that if we started today and we worked for five years to really improve our streets it would cost 80 million," said Erin Foote Marlow, executive director of the group Bend 2030, a nonprofit that supports a gas tax. "The fuel tax makes up the difference between what we can find in the general fund and what we need to actually spend annually."

Deferring road maintenance increases costs over time, according to city calculations.

"Doing nothing is a scenario that kicks that can down the road and ends up costing the community more," said Eric King, Bend city manager.

Critics of the tax say it would hurt businesses and consumers. Backers haven’t proposed a specific amount for a tax. But five cents per gallon would generate almost enough revenue to cover the funding gap.

A majority of Bend's city councilors voiced support for the tax at Monday's meeting.

"This provides a base funding source tied to the use of the streets. To me, it seems really obvious," said Mayor Jim Clinton.

"It's still going to be a tiny amount compared to the state and federal gas taxes."

Councilwoman Sally Russell put forth the idea of having the tax sunset in five or 10 years so that future councils could reevaluate whether it's needed.

But Clinton said he doesn't see the need for street maintenance declining, even with a five cent per gallon revenue source.

"It's not like you're doing something bold and exciting here to fix the roads. It's like we're just chipping away at the margins," said Clinton.

Twenty-one cities in Oregon now impose a local fuel tax, ranging from one cent to five cents per gallon.